Owen Sound Committee - Operations Meeting Transcript — March 19, 2026

00:00:05 Scott Greig: At this time, it's five thirty p.m.

00:00:08 Scott Greig: I welcome everyone to the meeting of the Operations Committee for March two thousand and twenty-six.

00:00:16 Scott Greig: We do have quorum right now.

00:00:18 Scott Greig: There's just five members of committee all present in the chambers, and we do expect two online, virtually joining us.

00:00:26 Scott Greig: So we'll keep our eyes peeled for that.

00:00:29 Scott Greig: For the benefit of Member Anderson, too, just so he has a better sense of who and where we're sitting or situated, I'll just have us go around the table, starting just to turn our mics on and introduce ourselves and our positions.

00:00:45 Scott Greig: So I'll start with you, Member Jordan.

00:00:50 Member Jordan: I'm Graham Jordan, and I'm a citizen member.

00:00:54 Scott Greig: Scott Greig, Deputy Mayor.

00:00:55 Scott Greig: Michelle Hawkins, Public Member.

00:01:06 Scott Greig: Carol Merton, Councillor.

00:01:11 Scott Greig: Don Anderson, Community Member.

00:01:15 Scott Greig: Sam Simmonds, City Manager.

00:01:18 Mason Bellamy: Mason Bellamy, Manager of Public Works and Engineering.

00:01:25 SPEAKER_029: Bryce McDonnell, Manager of Water and Wastewater.

00:01:29 SPEAKER_029: Heidi Jennen, Supervisor of Environmental Services.

00:01:33 Scott Greig: Thank you, and I'll note that we are joined online.

00:01:36 Scott Greig: Councillors Hamley and Councillors Farmer are on the screen as well.

00:01:41 Scott Greig: So, second item before us is a call for additional business.

00:01:45 Scott Greig: Are there any items of additional business from members this evening?

00:01:50 Scott Greig: Not seeing any online in the room.

00:01:53 Scott Greig: Councillor Merton, go ahead.

00:01:55 Carol Merton: Through you, Chair.

00:01:57 Carol Merton: I would like to.

00:01:58 Carol Merton: I have a comment and a question relating to the boil water advisory and the process.

00:02:04 Carol Merton: Thank you.

00:02:07 Carol Merton: Okay.

00:02:07 Scott Greig: Thank you.

00:02:08 Scott Greig: Any further?

00:02:09 Scott Greig: Not seeing any.

00:02:12 Scott Greig: Are there any declarations of interest this evening?

00:02:16 Scott Greig: None noted at this time.

00:02:19 Scott Greig: Item four A is confirmation of the minutes.

00:02:21 Scott Greig: These were approved by council without any commentary or alterations to the recommendations from the last meeting from committee.

00:02:30 Scott Greig: So, are there any questions from committee members to those minutes?

00:02:33 Scott Greig: Not seeing any.

00:02:35 Scott Greig: I'm just looking for a mover.

00:02:39 Scott Greig: A seconder.

00:02:40 Scott Greig: Member Anderson has so moved.

00:02:41 Scott Greig: All those in favor.

00:02:44 Scott Greig: That's carried unanimously.

00:02:45 Scott Greig: Thank you.

00:02:46 Scott Greig: And we this evening do have a deputation regarding the Fourth Avenue West reconstruction project, and I'll just go over to Mason for introductions.

00:03:01 Mason Bellamy: Can you hear me now?

00:03:03 Mason Bellamy: Perfect.

00:03:04 Mason Bellamy: Through you, Chair.

00:03:05 Mason Bellamy: Yeah, tonight we have Chris Wilson from WSP Canada Inc. here to give a quick presentation on where the status is of the Fourth Avenue Reconstruction Project.

00:03:14 Mason Bellamy: So tonight before Operations Committee, we had our second PIC for the project, well attended again, so rather successful.

00:03:23 Mason Bellamy: I think we probably had another fifteen people.

00:03:27 Mason Bellamy: Really good, positive feedback from the folks I talked to, and talking to Chris before coming into chambers here.

00:03:35 Mason Bellamy: He had some good feedback as well.

00:03:37 Mason Bellamy: So, with that, we'll hand it over to Chris for a brief presentation where we're at.

00:03:48 Mason Bellamy: Thank you very much.

00:03:54 Chris Wilson: So, first, I just wanted to just give a general introduction again of the project.

00:03:59 Chris Wilson: So, the City of Owen Sound engaged the services of WSP Canada Inc. to complete detailed design for the reconstruction of the following streets and avenues within the city, including Fourth Avenue West from Fifteenth Street West to Twenty Street West, approximately seven hundred seventy-five meters.

00:04:16 Chris Wilson: Sixteenth Street West from Fourth Ave West to Fifth Ave West, approximately one hundred fifty meters, and Seventeenth Street West from Third Ave West to Fifth Ave West, approximately two hundred fifty meters.

00:04:27 Chris Wilson: So, the general consensus of this reconstruction project is to, you know, deal with poor conditions, consider improvements for road users, bicycle, pedestrian safety, also as well as replacing existing infrastructure such as sanitary sewer, water main, and storm sewer, within these corridors, that have reached the end of their lives.

00:04:47 Chris Wilson: The proposed design will aim to improve above ground infrastructure, including pavement, sidewalk, gutter, signage, address localized flooding concerns, transportation facilities improvement, and accessibility and enhanced boulevard streetscapes.

00:05:07 Chris Wilson: Next slide gives a pretty well formalized construction phasing, starting with phase one approximately in August to November of this year, and that would generally consist of the first leg of Fourth Ave West from Fifteenth Street West.

00:05:37 Chris Wilson: From Fifteenth Street West to Seventeenth Street, and the side streets of Fifteenth Street West between Third and Fourth, sorry, that's a small section there, just at the edge.

00:05:47 Chris Wilson: But and generally Sixteenth Street West from Fourth to Fifth, so a smaller area in Phase One.

00:05:49 Chris Wilson: Phase Two would expand for the remainder of Fourth Avenue West up from Seventeenth Street West to Twenty Street West in June to October next year, including the Seventeenth Street West section from Third Avenue West to Fifth Avenue West.

00:06:24 Chris Wilson: And again, these phasing areas are somewhat formalized, but they could vary depending on the final design and any other obstacles that we may see moving into tendering.

00:06:33 Chris Wilson: So the next slide is the preferred option.

00:06:35 Chris Wilson: That out of the four options we had presented at the prior PIC, option three was the one that was taken forward to and directed to move into a sixty percent design.

00:06:37 Chris Wilson: So that included reconstructing the Fourth Ave West with three point five lane width, so a seven meter total lane width for the two lanes, no on-street parking, or bicycle lanes, and the construction of a multi-use path on the east side, and construction of a new sidewalk on the west side, generally in the same location as before.

00:07:14 Chris Wilson: So if you're looking at the diagram, we can show the pavement width, you know, the new curb, the green boulevard trees and hydro poles, etc., with the sidewalk on the west side and the two point seven meter multi-use path on the east side.

00:07:23 Chris Wilson: And again, the bottom of the slide, we just generally go over how this helps with traffic calming.

00:07:25 Chris Wilson: So, generally, smaller widths can support traffic calming from a visual perspective.

00:07:27 Chris Wilson: Tighter lanes force people to drive slower, increases pedestrian safety.

00:07:28 Chris Wilson: Addition of the multi-use path, you know, separates the travel for bicycles onto a path combined that's big enough for you know different pedestrian uses.

00:07:33 Chris Wilson: So you're eliminating that safety concern and less obstructions on the road.

00:08:11 Chris Wilson: No no parking on the road also helps improve you know traffic flow, reduce congestion impacts, better visibility, aesthetics, etc., and increases safety at intersections and crosswalks.

00:08:20 Chris Wilson: Next slide provides a preferred cross section for Sixteenth Street West.

00:08:22 Chris Wilson: Generally, it's being replaced.

00:08:23 Chris Wilson: Very similar width.

00:08:23 Chris Wilson: There's approximately a ten meter wide pavement, including travel lanes, and a component that's used for parking.

00:08:25 Chris Wilson: Right now, it's a smaller amount of parking, but it does allow for, you know, parking and the ability to travel around.

00:08:27 Chris Wilson: In this case, we've provided for a mountable curb on each side of the road, and we've shifted the sidewalks away because before they were curb face sidewalks, and now there's a boulevard separation to add some extra protection.

00:08:34 Chris Wilson: So generally, it's very similar to what was there before, just with the sidewalks shifting off of the curb face.

00:08:40 Chris Wilson: Again, with this option, there's no bicycle lanes, and these boulevards would be asphalt.

00:08:46 Chris Wilson: They could very well be grass, but generally, they're typically asphalt boulevards for that small section between the curb and the sidewalk.

00:08:59 Chris Wilson: Next cross section is for Seventeenth Street West between Third and Fourth.

00:09:03 Chris Wilson: It's generally a thinner road with just a travel lane, approximately three point five meters in width on both sides.

00:09:10 Chris Wilson: There's no on-street parking on the one side.

00:09:14 Chris Wilson: There is a component of parking at the school.

00:09:16 Chris Wilson: As you travel down that road, there's generally a concrete area or asphalt where there's parking along the one end, and then it generally transitions back into a boulevard there.

00:09:27 Chris Wilson: So we're basically keeping it very similar to what it is, putting in new road, new curb, transitioning from the parking spaces that are there for the school, and then replacing the sidewalk on the south side of the road.

00:09:43 Chris Wilson: The last cross section we have is the other section of Seventeenth Street West from Fourth Ave West to Fifth Ave West.

00:09:54 Chris Wilson: This is a thinner road, about six point five meters pavement.

00:09:57 Chris Wilson: We're generally considering keeping it the same at a three point two five meter travel lane on both sides, providing new mountable curb on either side.

00:10:06 Chris Wilson: It does, as you go west, it does get steeper.

00:10:08 Chris Wilson: So we weren't looking at putting sidewalk on that side, but there could be an option to look at potentially providing sidewalk on the south side of the road versus the north side.

00:10:20 Chris Wilson: So very similar three point two five meter travel lanes, the curb, and then the stormwater, sanitary and water main changes as well as we're seeing on the other roads.

00:10:34 Chris Wilson: Next several slides are quite detailed.

00:10:36 Chris Wilson: They're getting into the sixty percent design for the project.

00:10:39 Chris Wilson: First section is starting at Fifth Avenue West, and then the next several slides travel all the way up to Twenty-Eighth Street West.

00:10:47 Chris Wilson: So generally, in each slide, we're showcasing the proximate areas of stormwater and sanitary water main upgrades, along with the multi-use path and the new sidewalk.

00:10:57 Chris Wilson: Generally, we've worked to try and avoid hydro poles, trees, other visual things that we don't want to spend money to replace if we don't have to, and also maintain the existing trees and character of the street.

00:11:17 Chris Wilson: In some cases, for example, on this one, we're having to solve some of the flooding problems upstream.

00:11:24 Chris Wilson: So the storm sewer going in is quite large, and there could be potentially some loss of trees along that side there that we're showing, just due to the size of the sewer, and it could affect the root balls of the trees.

00:11:37 Chris Wilson: And we, you know, potentially the trees could fall in the future or die.

00:11:40 Chris Wilson: So, the section is probably one of the largest sections with the largest storm sewer, and then it gradually lessens in size as you travel upstream.

00:11:52 Chris Wilson: So the effects on the existing trees and other things are reduced.

00:12:01 Chris Wilson: Again, this is just the next section of Fourth Avenue West, south and north of the Sixteenth Street West intersection.

00:12:07 Chris Wilson: Again, we can see the storm sewer, the large storm sewer, the multi-use path, intersection work for crossings and so forth.

00:12:18 Chris Wilson: And it's pretty standard all the way up.

00:12:21 Chris Wilson: One thing we have to be cognizant of, obviously, with the multi-use path, is the position in front of the houses, especially on the east side.

00:12:30 Chris Wilson: The east side of the road, due to some of the lanes being small or not as wide, so we have to obviously be cognizant to be able to fit, you know, parking cars between the multi-use path and the homes.

00:12:40 Chris Wilson: You'll see further on in some other drawings where we've had to shift some of the multi-use path further to the east or west just to accommodate some of the existing properties.

00:12:52 Chris Wilson: Next slide is south and north of Seventeenth Street West.

00:13:06 Chris Wilson: Very similar to the other one, although we have indicated a crosswalk adjacent to the Timothy School.

00:13:13 Chris Wilson: It's approximately ten meters off the edge of the curb on Seventeenth Street West.

00:13:18 Chris Wilson: This location is kind of a placeholder right now.

00:13:21 Chris Wilson: We could position it further down the road to move it further away from the intersection, but it's just, you know, you have to, you don't, there's quite a few driveways that we have to avoid.

00:13:31 Chris Wilson: There's some larger trees along there that we don't want to have the crosswalk beside to ensure some visibility for people crossing and traffic coming that may not see them.

00:13:40 Chris Wilson: So that is not set in stone yet, but it's basically a raised crosswalk so it allows some traffic coming as well from the perspective of it has kind of a ramp up a flat surface where the people can walk and then it ramps back down versus just a flat straight system on the road.

00:13:58 Chris Wilson: So that is one traffic calming effort we are looking to add in as well with the ones I've spoken to already.

00:14:06 Chris Wilson: And again, in the one corner at the edge of Seventeenth Street West, you can see where we've shifted the multi-use path a bit to move further away from some of the residential properties.

00:14:16 Chris Wilson: From some of the residential properties along there.

00:14:17 Chris Wilson: Next figure is similar as before.

00:14:27 Chris Wilson: It's the south and north of Eighteenth Street West, again just carrying the storm sewer, sanitary water main, the multi-use path again, and the sidewalk on the other side, on the west side.

00:14:40 Chris Wilson: So very similar to the other locations.

00:14:44 Chris Wilson: And again, there'll be some boulevard trees that may be affected, and also hydro poles that may have to be relocated.

00:14:52 Chris Wilson: So we have initiated conversation with Hydro One to give them a preliminary design so they can see what poles are potentially having to be relocated, and we're waiting for first comments back, and then we'll continue on with the conversation with them to work to alleviate the number of poles that have to be shifted.

00:15:05 Chris Wilson: Next slide is south and north of Nineteenth Street West.

00:15:09 Chris Wilson: There is one retaining wall on the west side that is mostly on private property, so the sidewalk on the west side that's going to be reinstalled will not have any effect.

00:15:47 Chris Wilson: Further to the north, we get into a more difficult retaining wall that's kind of like a sloped flagstone system, quite high, and there are several trees at the top.

00:15:57 Chris Wilson: And due to the fact that we want to reduce curb face sidewalk where the sidewalk is right on the curb, we've shifted it back, which would create a result of that would be that we'd have to replace the sidewalk and build approximately another vertical retaining wall.

00:16:16 Chris Wilson: Or there is potential to, you know, speak to the property owner and potentially slope the property back and eliminate a retaining wall.

00:16:25 Chris Wilson: So those are options that we're in discussion right now with the city.

00:16:27 Chris Wilson: And it's quite a long wall, so there are two hydro poles embedded into that, and several trees at the top that are in conflict.

00:16:29 Chris Wilson: Next slide is our final leg to the end of the project at just south of Twenty-Eighth Street West, and no major concerns in this area.

00:16:31 Chris Wilson: There's no trees.

00:16:31 Chris Wilson: Sorry, there's two trees that are potentially required to be removed on the west side where the sidewalk is.

00:16:41 Chris Wilson: They're not marked; they're hidden.

00:16:43 Chris Wilson: I apologize about that.

00:16:45 Chris Wilson: Generally, the multi-use path is good on that side of the road, except for possibly one tree, I believe.

00:16:53 Chris Wilson: So I don't think there's any hydro pole relocations in this area.

00:17:03 Chris Wilson: Next slide is, excuse me, Sixteenth Street West between Fourth Avenue West and Fifth Avenue West.

00:17:08 Chris Wilson: Again, as mentioned before, we're generally keeping the same width of the road, but we are shifting the sidewalk back to create a boulevard buffer between that and the curb.

00:17:18 Chris Wilson: The result of this is the potential need to have some hydro poles removed.

00:17:23 Chris Wilson: Not just from that, but we've the curve radius at each intersection.

00:17:28 Chris Wilson: We're trying to maintain the city standards, and that has resulted in potentially some relocations as well.

00:17:36 Chris Wilson: So there is an opportunity to potentially revise that to reduce hydro pole removals.

00:17:40 Chris Wilson: But generally, right now, there will be a few hydro poles on Sixteenth Street West that would have to be relocated to the position of the sidewalk.

00:17:48 Chris Wilson: Next slide is Seventeenth Street West between Third and Fourth.

00:17:50 Chris Wilson: This is adjacent to the Timothy Christian School.

00:18:01 Chris Wilson: Nothing of major concern in this road.

00:18:03 Chris Wilson: Sanitary sewer replacement, new sidewalk.

00:18:04 Chris Wilson: There's generally no conflicts currently with existing poles.

00:18:10 Chris Wilson: Some of the poles do are very close to the sidewalk, so we could potentially shift the sidewalk back a bit so that we're not having to replace those.

00:18:20 Chris Wilson: But generally, there's no major conflicts along this road.

00:18:23 Chris Wilson: It's very much a like-for-like replacement.

00:18:25 Chris Wilson: And the last slide would be Seventeenth Street West from Fourth Avenue West to Fifth.

00:18:37 Chris Wilson: Again, this one is very much keeping the same flavor of the road that's there.

00:18:40 Chris Wilson: 3.25 meter width lanes.

00:18:44 Chris Wilson: Replacing the sanitary sewer up to three quarters of the way to the Fifth Avenue West intersection, and basically storm sewer would be carried by a curb down to catch basins at the Fourth Avenue West intersection.

00:19:01 Chris Wilson: There is potential to look at potentially a sidewalk on the south side, so we'll be looking at that to see if we can provide that.

00:19:09 Chris Wilson: There shouldn't be any conflicts with hydro poles on that side.

00:19:13 Chris Wilson: It's just more of a grade issue if we're at such a steep grade there at the one end.

00:19:18 Chris Wilson: We'll have to check that, but definitely putting a sidewalk on the other side of the road would have ramifications in regards to the grade and existing trees that are there.

00:19:30 Chris Wilson: So we've not looked at that side today due to those concerns.

00:19:34 Chris Wilson: So yeah, I know it's a lot to take in.

00:19:35 Chris Wilson: There's a lot of details here, but that's basically where we are at for the design right now.

00:19:37 Chris Wilson: And any questions?

00:19:38 Chris Wilson: I guess.

00:19:38 Chris Wilson: Okay.

00:19:51 Scott Greig: Thank you very much for the presentation, Chris.

00:19:54 Scott Greig: And at this time, I will engage the committee in questions.

00:20:00 Scott Greig: I see member Farmer online.

00:20:01 Scott Greig: Go ahead, John.

00:20:01 Scott Greig: Thank you.

00:20:02 Scott Greig: Can you hear me?

00:20:02 Scott Greig: Okay.

00:20:03 Scott Greig: Yes.

00:20:03 Scott Greig: Awesome.

00:20:03 Scott Greig: So, two questions.

00:20:13 Jon Farmer: First, do we know how many of the street features will need to be moved or removed with this current option, or the relative sizes of trees that will need to be removed, given the considerable benefit of mature trees in comparison to newly planted ones?

00:20:32 Chris Wilson: Yeah, we have a landscape team involved, and they have to write a report based on so they've done a tree summary of all the tree inventory on the road, their health and everything.

00:20:45 Chris Wilson: And we've provided them the preliminary plans based on the positioning of the roads, the sidewalks, the multi-use path, and we've indicated to them the potential trees that we feel have to be removed based on the construction.

00:21:01 Chris Wilson: So, there, as I was saying before, there are some that are being removed due to construction of new sewers.

00:21:08 Chris Wilson: Just goes, just it's going to destroy their root base.

00:21:12 Chris Wilson: There's some that are in the way of the multi-use path.

00:21:16 Chris Wilson: So, we've tried to maneuver the path as positioned as best possible to try and reduce tree removal and the hydro poles.

00:21:22 Chris Wilson: Obviously, taking into account to try and keep the largest, more mature trees as well that offer nice shade and are nice aesthetic to the street.

00:21:31 Chris Wilson: So, again, it's an evolving process.

00:21:35 Chris Wilson: So, it may we may be able to reduce the amount, but there are definitely you know I'm going to hazard a guess of maybe ten to twelve trees that may have to be removed in the main street area, that retaining wall area that I was discussing.

00:21:48 Chris Wilson: If we do end up moving the sidewalk back, it will definitely have several trees there fronting that one property that have to go.

00:21:54 Chris Wilson: Thank you.

00:21:58 Jon Farmer: A follow up question, and this is a bigger question that I acknowledge I might be catching you off guard with, but recently at the most recent council meeting, where the minutes from the previous committee meeting were presented, we were also receiving information about the downloading of county road.

00:22:08 Jon Farmer: The downloading of county roads to the city and the relative cost of that.

00:22:20 Jon Farmer: And following these minutes being presented, there was some discussion around why we're augmenting what's currently there compared to just replacing as is, and that got me thinking about the proximity to the Edisurgeon Parkway as a main collector road running north and south, and also knowing that the traffic counts along Fourth Avenue can be inflated by people coming into town from outside of the neighborhood and using that as a main thoroughfare.

00:22:57 Jon Farmer: I'm wondering, as we think about creative solutions that balance priorities, what might the benefits or drawbacks be to considering reducing Fourth Avenue between Sixteenth Street and Nineteenth Street to a single lane with one direction moving north, which would then allow folks traveling south from on Fourth Ave from the north there to pick up Nineteenth Street, which connects to a signalized intersection at the Ediserton Parkway and might more properly funnel commuting traffic to the main thoroughfare.

00:23:35 Jon Farmer: I acknowledge this is not an idea that the team may have considered or encountered before, but either off the top of your head or perhaps from staff in a subsequent conversation, what might the benefits or drawbacks be in terms of reduced cost of construction, reduced complication for expanding the widths of the sidewalk for the multi-use path in that three block area?

00:24:02 Jon Farmer: How do we consider maybe outside of the box ideas like that?

00:24:06 Jon Farmer: Thanks, John.

00:24:08 Scott Greig: I'm just going to look to my left and go to Mason Bellamy for a response there.

00:24:11 Scott Greig: Through you, Chair.

00:24:16 Scott Greig: I'll try to break it out in parts here, maybe.

00:24:20 Mason Bellamy: So, as far as Fourth Avenue now, based on my understanding, Fourth Avenue in our official plan is a minor collector road.

00:24:29 Mason Bellamy: So, our goal for that is still to primarily move people and vehicles up and down.

00:24:34 Mason Bellamy: So, the consideration of a one-way road does not typically fall in that minor collector category.

00:24:42 Mason Bellamy: So, it's not a consideration we've asked WSP to look at in their proposal through this tender process.

00:24:50 Mason Bellamy: So, I think in the broader picture, those are some things that maybe we could look at.

00:24:55 Mason Bellamy: But I think we would need direction from council to change our official plan on how we look at some of those things in the future.

00:25:02 Mason Bellamy: Any follow up, Councilor Farmer?

00:25:08 Jon Farmer: Yeah, thanks for that, and I appreciate the constraints of the official plan, which we are doing a minor update to at the moment.

00:25:17 Jon Farmer: And I guess I'm hearing from that that for design processes like this, that there is no opportunity to consider shifts in like that idea without changing the either official plan or transportation master plans that ideally inform our projects within the lifespans of the documents.

00:25:29 Jon Farmer: Do I have that right?

00:25:33 Jon Farmer: That there's just kind of no scope to consider ideas like that without those historic or future changes.

00:25:41 Jon Farmer: I'm going to go to Mason.

00:25:43 Jon Farmer: I see his fingers close to the button, so I'll go back to Mason for comment.

00:25:48 Jon Farmer: I think I just want to clarify.

00:25:54 Scott Greig: I don't think it's blanket on all projects.

00:25:57 Scott Greig: I think this project specifically, just being a minor collector, makes it difficult.

00:26:10 Mason Bellamy: I think there's opportunities on local roads and other projects in the future, and I think again those are things we can maybe look at on other projects, maybe just not Fourth Avenue.

00:26:18 Mason Bellamy: Thanks so much.

00:26:18 Mason Bellamy: Okay, thanks, Councilor Farmer.

00:26:19 Mason Bellamy: Further questions in the room, Councilor Merton?

00:26:20 Mason Bellamy: Through you, Chair.

00:26:21 Mason Bellamy: Thank you for the presentation.

00:26:34 Carol Merton: A couple of things: the less asphalt we have, the better.

00:26:40 Carol Merton: As you move forward, and you talked about naturalizing boulevards versus asphalt, and I certainly support.

00:26:47 Carol Merton: Whenever possible, we understand the importance of reducing asphalt regarding heat islands and heat capture.

00:26:54 Carol Merton: So, thank you for at least considering that.

00:26:56 Carol Merton: We talk about removing hydro poles.

00:26:57 Carol Merton: So, I have a question and then a request per hydro pole to actually remove and or replace.

00:27:10 Carol Merton: Can you give us a dollar guesstimate, please?

00:27:14 Carol Merton: Yes, it all depends on the size.

00:27:18 Chris Wilson: There's obviously various sizes of poles and different complexities at certain ones if they're collecting, say, four lines, five lines, single line.

00:27:25 Chris Wilson: But a general, I guess, a general basis point would be probably twenty to thirty grand a pole.

00:27:32 Chris Wilson: You know, and even the ones that we're showing that are probably conflicts.

00:27:38 Chris Wilson: It's up to Hydro.

00:27:39 Chris Wilson: It's up to Line One to come back with a design of what they think is required, and you know maybe they think some of the other ones are beyond their life as well.

00:27:48 Chris Wilson: And you know if they're going to replace it, they would cover the cost of that just because of replacing anyways.

00:27:50 Chris Wilson: But you know if they say shift the pole to get out of our multi-use path, it may affect a pole that we may have thought was fine downstream just because of the way the direction the lines move between them.

00:27:59 Chris Wilson: So it could expand beyond what we think is the only conflicts.

00:28:02 Chris Wilson: But it all depends on what they come back with.

00:28:11 Chris Wilson: It's a it's what they call it's a seven-letter process with them.

00:28:15 Chris Wilson: We initiate the project in Letter One, they acknowledge it, and then we keep going through all the steps as the design progresses, and then eventually we get to a letter where we say, when can you do the work by, how much is it going to cost, and what kind of sharing cost is there.

00:28:29 Chris Wilson: So we're not quite at that point yet, but we're very close.

00:28:33 Chris Wilson: So.

00:28:33 Chris Wilson: Thank you for that.

00:28:41 Carol Merton: So the less hydro poles we have to move, obviously it saves funds for the total project.

00:28:48 Carol Merton: So, obviously, considering every single hydro pole and location is absolutely critical in this process.

00:28:57 Carol Merton: I wanted to ask you about the trees, and I know that the goal is to minimize the disruption to the natural environment.

00:29:05 Carol Merton: We talk about replacing hydro poles, and you've mentioned the landscape team.

00:29:12 Carol Merton: Are the arborists at the city part of that team that's looking at the trees?

00:29:21 Chris Wilson: I'm not aware of any arborist team at the city, but it's generally it's a WSP.

00:29:27 Chris Wilson: Generally, it's a WSP team that is being retained for the landscaping and arborist report, currently.

00:29:36 Carol Merton: Because we have a tree GPS, and I think our arborists are a resource for our city as well, I might suggest there could be some communication, if at all possible.

00:29:52 Carol Merton: If you've got machinery that replaces hydro poles, is there a possibility that some of those trees, rather than being removed completely, there could be some consideration based on our city staff input, on if a tree can be rescued enough to be able to replace within to keep our tree canopy as solid as it can be?

00:30:18 Carol Merton: Could that be a possibility as you move forward?

00:30:20 Carol Merton: Yes, I think so.

00:30:23 Chris Wilson: We'll be providing that report shortly, and I, I would agree that if there's comments and review that the city can complete with their team, we can definitely communicate with you to look at other options and recommendations.

00:30:38 Chris Wilson: So our team will be doing you know recommendations as well, but perhaps you know a second opinion or review would help to support any more mitigation we can put forward.

00:30:48 Chris Wilson: Yeah, you can keep going, Councillor Martin.

00:30:49 Chris Wilson: I've got my own concerns I'll speak to afterwards.

00:31:04 Carol Merton: I didn't want to take the chair's thunder.

00:31:07 Carol Merton: We had had a conversation about parking, so that's why I was doing the sidebar.

00:31:12 Carol Merton: Was that on your list?

00:31:13 Carol Merton: Because I don't want to take that.

00:31:15 Carol Merton: I'll leave it to you then.

00:31:16 Carol Merton: Thank you.

00:31:19 Scott Greig: Are there any further questions from committee members?

00:31:22 Scott Greig: I'm not seeing any.

00:31:25 Scott Greig: I do have some concerns.

00:31:27 Scott Greig: My first question is, how was it decided to proceed with option three as the preferred option?

00:31:34 Scott Greig: Because it is somewhat contrary to what I've heard from committee members.

00:31:39 Scott Greig: Most recently, a gentleman who came into my workplace as well, sharing his perspective.

00:31:44 Scott Greig: What has guided you to option three, away from option one and two, which were a lower cost option, maintaining status quo or removing parking on the street?

00:31:56 Scott Greig: I'm aware that Second Avenue West from the library southbound to the Mill Dam, for instance, is eight meters, curb to curb.

00:32:04 Scott Greig: So give me a little bit perspective of what you're talking about.

00:32:09 Scott Greig: What got you to where you are now?

00:32:12 Scott Greig: What informed the process to option three?

00:32:20 Mason Bellamy: Three, you chair, following PC one, obviously, and then when it came to this committee previously, where the director gave a brief report on that.

00:32:30 Mason Bellamy: An ultimate discussion.

00:32:32 Mason Bellamy: We aggregated all the comments.

00:32:34 Mason Bellamy: Generally, the comments were in two groups.

00:32:37 Mason Bellamy: I'll call them.

00:32:38 Mason Bellamy: We're going to call them group one, which be status quo with on street parking, like you mentioned.

00:32:44 Mason Bellamy: The second group was pro safety, pro active transportation, which when we aggregated all the comments between written emails, people our staff talked to, people that WSP talked to, the large portion was the active transportation route, and then we obviously have two options there with either bike lanes or the trail.

00:33:06 Mason Bellamy: So, excuse me.

00:33:11 Mason Bellamy: At that point, just trying to keep the process moving.

00:33:15 Mason Bellamy: Staff asked WSP to proceed with this.

00:33:19 Mason Bellamy: There's a little bit farther, so we can look at it a little bit more.

00:33:23 Mason Bellamy: We are trying to maintain some work this construction season and get it out for tender here, hopefully end of April, so we get some work done this year, and we're just trying to move that along a little more.

00:33:35 Mason Bellamy: Ultimately, this when this goes over tender, and if the cost is too great, council will have opportunity at that time to comment again if we need to change the scope of the project.

00:33:47 Scott Greig: My concern with that is if you change the scope of the project, that time is going to make it very difficult to complete phase one in two thousand twenty-one.

00:33:54 Scott Greig: Phase one in two thousand and twenty-six.

00:33:56 Scott Greig: There was two councilors who voiced some concerns at the last council meeting as well.

00:34:01 Scott Greig: I don't think they were aligned with the recommendation here, as option three being the preferred pathway.

00:34:10 Scott Greig: This strikes me as a lot of work navigating around trees, moving hydro poles to facilitate an active transportation lane on the east side of the avenue in a well established neighborhood.

00:34:25 Scott Greig: That's going to be interrupted frequently because of short driveways with sedans and pickup trucks and you name it.

00:34:31 Scott Greig: There'll be all sorts of interventions in that ten foot wide asphalt path, which in front of some of those houses there's almost no setback.

00:34:40 Scott Greig: Like there's a house at Seventeenth Street, a white house I think it is, just from memory because we're always running down there.

00:34:48 Scott Greig: That thing, that house is literally on the sidewalk.

00:34:50 Scott Greig: I don't.

00:34:51 Scott Greig: This seems like a tremendous amount of forcing to make an active use path work.

00:34:58 Scott Greig: I would be reluctant to think that everyone on the east side would be supportive of that intervention.

00:35:06 Scott Greig: Then on their, while it may be the municipal right of way, that's not how people recognize it.

00:35:12 Scott Greig: It's their lawn.

00:35:14 Scott Greig: It reminds me of a project behind Shoppers Drug Mart on the east side, where we wanted to establish a sidewalk, and everybody in the neighborhood said the best place for the sidewalk is on the other side of the street.

00:35:30 Scott Greig: I certainly have concerns with the transportation path being the preferred option here.

00:35:40 Scott Greig: One and two.

00:35:42 Scott Greig: I, I could have lived with the traffic being removed from the street.

00:35:47 Scott Greig: I did have a gentleman in the in my business yesterday, advocating to preserve the parking because, and I hadn't considered this, the Fourth Avenue is a significant overflow parking opportunity when there's large events at, at Kelsey Beach at Nae Wash Park.

00:36:08 Scott Greig: It is it is more than just someone having company over for a birthday party or or Christmas.

00:36:18 Scott Greig: It is heavily utilized, and when it's gone, and option three removes it, it is no longer there.

00:36:20 Scott Greig: It is gone.

00:36:20 Scott Greig: What staff's comments or or Chris your comments in terms of what you've considered for that type of loss of parking, responding to those concerns from.

00:36:35 Scott Greig: I guess, people not just in the neighborhood, but more the community at large.

00:36:43 Mason Bellamy: Specifically speaking to parking, we are taking some steps to try to address some of the minor parking issues on some of the side streets.

00:36:52 Mason Bellamy: We have a few other options we're looking to maybe implement on the ball field to address some of the parking.

00:36:59 Mason Bellamy: As far as parking for community at large and flow over for events, that's not some comments that we received to date, to my knowledge, as it wasn't necessarily a great consideration.

00:37:12 Mason Bellamy: But those are things we can look at here and see how we can address.

00:37:17 Mason Bellamy: On again, like side streets, like I said, we're trying to address some of that.

00:37:22 Mason Bellamy: Fourth Avenue, like I said earlier, is a collector.

00:37:25 Mason Bellamy: I think we're trying to maintain that as a through fare. mostly, and parking.

00:37:33 Mason Bellamy: You know there are some concerns with that as well, which we did hear from the community.

00:37:37 Mason Bellamy: Parking makes it wider, makes it faster.

00:37:39 Mason Bellamy: Perceived like speed on Fourth Avenue.

00:37:41 Mason Bellamy: Those are a lot of the concerns we heard.

00:37:43 Mason Bellamy: And safety, safety, safety came up numerous times, and that's kind of how we got to the preferred option here was some of those concerns.

00:37:55 Scott Greig: Okay, thanks for that.

00:37:56 Scott Greig: Seventeenth Street from Fourth Avenue to Fifth Avenue.

00:38:00 Scott Greig: Extremely low volume.

00:38:02 Scott Greig: Got no urban relief.

00:38:03 Scott Greig: There's no shoulders, like curbs, on it right now.

00:38:06 Scott Greig: It'll be greatly improved.

00:38:10 Scott Greig: The discussion of a sidewalk for the traffic count that that street would see through the day.

00:38:20 Scott Greig: What consideration in terms of moving it forward would you say that's is more expensive?

00:38:22 Scott Greig: than it requires in the bid, and you would remove it, or or what's the process there?

00:38:29 Scott Greig: It just moves forward and and it be part of the bid process, and it'll be more a more expensive project.

00:38:38 Chris Wilson: Yes, you could put it as provisional item as well, and depending on what we get, we'll have an individual price for that section, and you know based on how you want to proceed, then you can keep it or remove it.

00:38:48 Chris Wilson: So you don't want to provisionalize too much of the projects because it's it's harder to get contractors keen.

00:38:55 Chris Wilson: But you know there are opportunities to to to provisional certain items in the job just to see what kind of pricing we get, and then have other opportunities to take those out.

00:39:07 Scott Greig: Okay, thanks for that.

00:39:10 Scott Greig: What are the next steps?

00:39:11 Scott Greig: And I know there's some members of the public here this evening.

00:39:14 Scott Greig: The next item. is public forum.

00:39:16 Scott Greig: So, if there's individuals who want to place some comments, you will have your opportunity right shortly.

00:39:22 Scott Greig: What is the the path at this time as it stands?

00:39:28 Chris Wilson: So, currently, we're we're working to finalize the 60 design based on the option three and the the side street options that we've presented.

00:39:37 Chris Wilson: We are in the process of obviously speaking with Hydro One to understand these relocation costs and concerns and what they feel is necessary, so that that gets taken into consideration.

00:39:47 Chris Wilson: Obviously, because we want to have those poles removed before we say start construction in August, so we have about a four month window to deal with Hydro One, get the poles moved for the contractor for phase one mobilizes on site.

00:40:03 Chris Wilson: Basically, as you don't want to have them working under the same same envelope.

00:40:07 Chris Wilson: It's legal legality wise, it's not kosher.

00:40:11 Chris Wilson: So that's kind of the steps right now.

00:40:13 Chris Wilson: Then moving into 100% design and tendering about approximately April 30th for about a three to four week period.

00:40:26 Chris Wilson: Okay, is is the future?

00:40:32 Scott Greig: I echoed Councillor Farmer's concerns about costs, and he noted a potential road download from the county, and it is millions and millions of dollars of additional cost.

00:40:47 Scott Greig: And I think every project that we construct, we've got to evaluate it extremely closely in terms of minimizing the potential inflation of costs.

00:40:59 Scott Greig: This, I'm certainly concerned with our trajectory. here with option three, it was discussed tree loss, everything, a lot of attempt to move the sidewalk back in an eighteen hundred block.

00:41:14 Scott Greig: Even that came with a lot of expense, new retaining walls.

00:41:18 Scott Greig: I'm just concerned that we are not pushing alongside consideration of what is a lesser cost option to be considered, and if this is too expensive, that we get too deep into the year to be able to revise the scope.

00:41:38 Scott Greig: I've got a lot of concerns with where you're at potentially right now in terms of our direction.

00:41:47 Scott Greig: So, I guess that's that's leave it at that.

00:41:50 Scott Greig: Councillor Hamley, you haven't said anything.

00:41:52 Scott Greig: Did you have anything to add?

00:41:57 Brock Hamley: No, well, I share your concern because I think the problem with this is like if we get too far down the path here with a design that's going to be, I think we all know is going to be quite expensive compared to an alternative.

00:42:16 Brock Hamley: Like I've seen this play out before, right?

00:42:18 Brock Hamley: Like we get down the process, we don't like the price, and then the project's delayed for years, and it costs more, and it just goes on and on.

00:42:30 Brock Hamley: So I think we, I think we do need to be a little more laser focused on what we're trying to accomplish.

00:42:41 Scott Greig: Okay, thanks for that.

00:42:43 Scott Greig: So I don't see any further comments in the room.

00:42:45 Scott Greig: Thank you very much for the presentation to the public and to committee.

00:42:49 Scott Greig: This evening, Chris.

00:42:52 Scott Greig: Yeah, the snow is disappearing, but the season will be fast upon us in terms of construction.

00:42:57 Scott Greig: So, yeah, thank you very much.

00:43:04 Scott Greig: Item six is public forum, and this is an opportunity for members of the public to be able to approach.

00:43:10 Scott Greig: And if so, I would ask that you state your name and place of residence before asking your question or placing consideration at the microphone.

00:43:34 Scott Greig: I'll just get you to push the little button on the right there to turn the green light on.

00:43:40 Karen Standleff: Yes.

00:43:41 Karen Standleff: Hello, my name is Karen Standalov.

00:43:43 Karen Standleff: My name is Karen Standleff.

00:43:46 Karen Standleff: I'm the managing director, the managing director of Queen of Hearts Nursery School, and we are located in Timothy Christian.

00:43:52 Karen Standleff: We have up to 200 children in just our organisation a day.

00:43:59 Karen Standleff: That and a lot of them do go to the Timothy Christian site on Fourth Avenue, and in summer that increases.

00:44:10 Karen Standleff: So I think one of the first things that we, I mean, it does sound obviously a lot of money, but from our point of view, the sidewalks and everything, it would be a real benefit and safety to our children.

00:44:23 Karen Standleff: But my our first thought was, is Fourth Avenue West?

00:44:29 Karen Standleff: Would that mean that part of it would be closed?

00:44:32 Karen Standleff: And what closures, closure notice would we get?

00:44:37 Karen Standleff: so our parents can be able to drop off and pick up safely with their children.

00:44:46 Scott Greig: Great question.

00:44:47 Scott Greig: I'll go to staff, see where they're at in terms of working out those detour considerations and delays.

00:44:56 Mason Bellamy: So ultimately, the contractor that is part of the project will be responsible for full traffic control.

00:45:02 Mason Bellamy: We will make sure they do it on a block by block basis, so we can have access to school.

00:45:07 Mason Bellamy: Likely, if I believe we get into your facility from Third Avenue, which is a benefit, but the goal would be that we could have access at the end of every working day for the residents on that street, and then they'd have to maintain safe access through detours on a block by block basis to get everywhere.

00:45:25 Mason Bellamy: Does that answer your question?

00:45:26 Mason Bellamy: Hopefully.

00:45:30 Karen Standleff: It does.

00:45:31 Karen Standleff: I'm going to pass over to my colleague actually because she runs the buses.

00:45:36 Karen Standleff: That obviously we don't have them during the summer, but we will have them from September.

00:45:41 Karen Standleff: If you don't mind, thank you.

00:45:46 Heather Young Husband: My name's Heather Young Husband, and obviously we're getting Queen of Hearts.

00:45:52 Heather Young Husband: So I'm just wondering what the considerations were and how you came to the decision to put the crosswalk where you're thinking of putting it, and what sort of factors went into that.

00:46:07 Mason Bellamy: So for the crosswalk, there's been identified need.

00:46:15 Mason Bellamy: We definitely need it, particularly around the Timothy Christian School.

00:46:20 Mason Bellamy: Right now, we're looking at mid-block.

00:46:21 Mason Bellamy: There's a couple benefits to mid-block based on the type of pedestrian crossing that you can have, it's a little.

00:46:31 Mason Bellamy: Try to best way to phrase this.

00:46:33 Mason Bellamy: It is kind of a better solution if we would put at one of the intersections.

00:46:38 Mason Bellamy: It kind of forces into a controlled intersection scenario, which is a lot greater cost.

00:46:43 Mason Bellamy: And Fourth Avenue is maybe not the best location for like a set of lights right at the corner of the school or something like that.

00:46:50 Mason Bellamy: So that's some of the downfalls of having a crosswalk controlled like that at an intersection rather than mid-block.

00:46:57 Mason Bellamy: As we move through the design, our staff and WSP, we're still going to work on finalizing that a little bit.

00:47:03 Mason Bellamy: So that final design is not set in stone here yet.

00:47:06 Mason Bellamy: We have some opportunity to move it up and down Fourth Avenue between Seventeenth and Eighteenth, I think.

00:47:14 Mason Bellamy: Primarily, is kind of what we're thinking, but there is some opportunity to push it one way or the other.

00:47:18 SPEAKER_033: Beyond that, can I just ask you?

00:47:25 Heather Young Husband: Do you collaborate all with the bus companies and where their main because Timothy Christian is parents pick up there, so they don't have a use for a crosswalk.

00:47:35 Heather Young Husband: The Montessori school also parents go right directly there and pick up right from the doors, so there's not much.

00:47:42 Heather Young Husband: But where we see, and actually a child was hit, was right Sixteenth and Fourth because there is at least at least eight buses that come and drop off there mornings and afternoon.

00:47:56 Heather Young Husband: And when you watch children just firsting and trying to get across Fourth, that is the safety concern that I have when I send my staff out.

00:48:07 Heather Young Husband: We pair up and try and get across.

00:48:09 Heather Young Husband: So I'm just wondering if any of the bus companies are collaborated with, because the other schools, the parents drop off and pick up, so they're not crossing the streets.

00:48:20 Heather Young Husband: Children aren't doing it on their own, but they certainly are where the bus stops are, and the bus stops seem to be away from the schools, so there's not a backlog of traffic, so they sort of keep them down near Sixteenth and Fourth, and that's where children are like running in between cars, and there was actually, in fact, a child hit.

00:48:39 Heather Young Husband: So I'm just wondering if the crosswalk consideration, if there's going to be collaboration with the bus companies, because that's where I see the biggest safety, because we've been there for eight years, and there's more and more buses coming to that, because they're trying to stay away from Timothy Christian School and Montessori School area.

00:48:58 Mason Bellamy: I don't have all the background with me on this project, and unfortunately, our project manager for this couldn't be here tonight.

00:49:05 Mason Bellamy: But we could definitely take those back, and WSP and staff can work at looking at that.

00:49:10 Mason Bellamy: And we can see what some of the background data was and why we got to the block we have it on now.

00:49:15 Mason Bellamy: If there's some data we don't have, we can look into that, and maybe it is better placed closer to 60th.

00:49:20 Mason Bellamy: We can definitely look at that.

00:49:24 Mason Bellamy: That's all for me.

00:49:25 Mason Bellamy: Thank you.

00:49:27 Scott Greig: Thank you very much for those comments.

00:49:30 Scott Greig: Are there any further comments before us this evening?

00:49:35 Scott Greig: Not seeing any to be provided.

00:49:38 Scott Greig: So thank you very much for your time, everyone.

00:49:40 Scott Greig: You're welcome to stay, but I assume I think we all know that you were here for the Fourth Avenue West project.

00:49:49 Scott Greig: So thanks for your attendance and time this evening.

00:49:55 Scott Greig: We've got no items of correspondence received for which notice is required before committee this evening under item seven.

00:50:01 Scott Greig: So we are into reports of city staff, the first of which is eight A one, which is a proposed upgrade to traffic signal infrastructure at 10th Street West and Eighth Avenue.

00:50:13 Scott Greig: And I'll look back to Mason to introduce this.

00:50:18 Scott Greig: Thank you, through you, Chair.

00:50:24 Mason Bellamy: I'll just start with a bit of background before we get into the report.

00:50:27 Mason Bellamy: So the traffic lights or signal intersection we're looking at here tonight is 10th Street West and Eighth Avenue West.

00:50:34 Mason Bellamy: I think staff sometimes refers to it as the Little Caesars intersection, for lack of a better terminology.

00:50:41 Mason Bellamy: It has been an unfortunate intersection the last couple years.

00:50:46 Mason Bellamy: We've had two collisions: January 2025, January two thousand and twenty-five, January two thousand and twenty-six, and has left the poor intersection in a state of disrepair, and we have some non-functioning components that are unfortunately we can't really put off any longer.

00:51:07 Mason Bellamy: Scope is a little bit bigger than what an emergency would be, and thus we brought it to committee here for consideration.

00:51:16 Mason Bellamy: Just for further background, this intersection was in the capital plan, I believe, for two thousand and twenty-nine.

00:51:45 Mason Bellamy: If we move forward with the recommendation in the report, we've looked at pushing that back for broader replacement, as in the life like life cycle we have, and it would be extended a little bit, so it would be later in the two thousand and thirty's.

00:51:54 Mason Bellamy: And so I'll just kind of go through the highlights here, and then be open for questions.

00:51:56 Mason Bellamy: So, so staff report OP two six zero five.

00:51:57 Mason Bellamy: Op two six zero zero five, the traffic signal upgrades for Ten Street West and Eight Avenue West.

00:52:26 Mason Bellamy: The staff's recommendation that consideration for staff report Op 26005, respecting traffic signals upgrades at Ten Street West and Eight Avenue West, operation recommends that City Council approve the funding reallocation for the traffic and pedestrian signal upgrades at Ten Street and Eight Street West in 2016, as outlined in the report.

00:52:35 Mason Bellamy: So, as I just kind of said in our preamble, the traffic lights require some upgrades because of these collisions.

00:52:37 Mason Bellamy: We have some non-functioning components, specifically with the pedestrian crossings, and they are in constant recall.

00:52:39 Mason Bellamy: If it works at all, unfortunately, so that is a concern, and this is due to the two-vehicle collisions we had on both.

00:52:52 Mason Bellamy: The two-vehicle collisions we had in both 2025 and now early here in 2026.

00:53:02 Mason Bellamy: These traffic signals are supported by a span wire utility system, which you know they're connected to each pole in each quadrant.

00:53:11 Mason Bellamy: And these overhead wires have been exposed to weather; they're deteriorating, and they are showing some signs of age.

00:53:19 Mason Bellamy: So, following the vehicle collision in the north quadrant, damage to the pedestrian push button occurred, and minor pole damage.

00:53:20 Mason Bellamy: We did some maintenance at the time, and we've made it functional, but it's no longer suitable for continued operation.

00:53:39 Mason Bellamy: To restore full function.

00:53:40 Mason Bellamy: To restore full functionality and improve reliability at the intersection, we propose replacement of the suspension wires on the northwest approaches, the south, and the east span wires replaced in March last year following the collision.

00:53:43 Mason Bellamy: Under emergency replacement, replacement of the poles in northwest and southwest quadrants, including the associated hardware, guide wires, etc. This pole is owned by Hydro One, and there will need to be some coordination.

00:53:55 Mason Bellamy: Replacement of all four pedestrian push buttons serving the north and south crossings, installation of new wires and traffic signals for pedestrian push buttons, the Opticon equipment, and the loop detection system, which is currently non-functioning, and provisional replacement of the inductive loops, which will require wiring restoration.

00:54:31 Mason Bellamy: As a note, before this was in the ten-year capital plan for broader geometric improvement.

00:54:38 Mason Bellamy: In that, we would probably require some easements or land acquisition for a bigger project.

00:55:07 Mason Bellamy: So at this time, staff didn't consider bringing forward that capital project now because it would be probably a year, year and a half process.

00:55:17 Mason Bellamy: And we feel the lights need to be repaired in a shorter time frame than that.

00:55:19 Mason Bellamy: So based on some preliminary quotes we've been looking at, we believe the cost is going to be around the sixty thousand to repair the intersection.

00:55:20 Mason Bellamy: And we are looking for support to reallocate some funding from unused projects of P2411, which was the pedestrian crossing at Ten Street and Eighth Avenue West, and then move partial of the approved budget from 265, which was the Ninth Avenue East and Fifteen Street A pedestrian.

00:55:38 Mason Bellamy: Fifteenth Street A pedestrian crossing, which has not been studied at this time.

00:55:42 Mason Bellamy: Given the busyness or the high use of the intersection, staff feels that this, sorry, repair is necessary in a short order.

00:55:50 Mason Bellamy: Here we have the high school there.

00:56:19 Jon Farmer: It is a busy intersection with traffic, people coming in to and from the city, and we definitely open to any questions.

00:56:29 Jon Farmer: Okay, thank you for that, Mason.

00:56:30 Jon Farmer: I'll go to Councilor Hamley online first, and then Councilor Farmer.

00:56:32 Jon Farmer: I'll move the recommendation, Your Worship.

00:56:33 Mason Bellamy: Or, Deputy Mayor, I apologize.

00:56:34 Mason Bellamy: Appreciate that, and appreciate the correction, Councilor Farmer.

00:56:35 Mason Bellamy: Thank you.

00:56:36 Mason Bellamy: A couple of clarifying questions first to staff, if I may, through the chair.

00:56:37 Mason Bellamy: The comment, if it works at all, was that in relation to whether the lights cycles at all, or whether the lights are like on and functioning in any direction.

00:56:48 Mason Bellamy: Apologies through you, chair.

00:56:49 Mason Bellamy: Clarification, specifically speaking to the pedestrian crossing signals, we have had some issues with them.

00:56:54 Mason Bellamy: Our contractors work diligently to keep them functioning the best they can.

00:57:00 Mason Bellamy: We have had a few blips where they are not working both north and southbound, if I recall correctly, on the east side.

00:57:11 Jon Farmer: We have rectified most of it, but it's kind of a short term solution to keep them working now, and this should be repaired.

00:57:20 Jon Farmer: Thank you.

00:57:21 Jon Farmer: I'm mindful that the committee heard a deputation from a community member about walkability back at the end of 2025, and promoting the benefits of always assuming that pedestrians are present.

00:57:23 Jon Farmer: I'm wondering if there's any cost saving to assuming that those pedestrian signals would work with a scoped down project.

00:57:34 Jon Farmer: If it is possible to scope separately the replacement of the emergency vehicle preemption system and to ensure that the lights are cycling for pedestrians even in constant recall, which would have the impact of regardless of whether someone was in time to push the button, always allowing a walk signal and assuming that pedestrians are present, while also cycling the light regularly to prevent too much of a backup, while also slowing traffic at what can be a very fast part of town.

00:58:26 Mason Bellamy: Is it technically possible to separate the replacement of the vehicle detection loops, the pedestrian buttons, and the emergency vehicle detection system?

00:58:33 Mason Bellamy: Through your chair, I would have to confirm with our traffic technologists on some of those specifics.

00:58:35 Mason Bellamy: Now, if I understand correctly, a majority of the work that we need to replace is wiring and hardware, where some of the other stuff can be done with via programming in the traffic box.

00:58:42 Mason Bellamy: So, I think majority of the cost here would be hardware and wiring related, and I don't see a beneficial savings to scope that out.

00:58:52 Mason Bellamy: I think that's something we could look at through the programming once it's implemented.

00:58:56 Mason Bellamy: But it's mostly the wiring and hardware that I think is the critical thing to be replaced.

00:59:02 Jon Farmer: And to a layman through the chair, someone who doesn't work with that technology, although I use it sometimes, is that is all of the wiring and hardware necessary for every component of the system, or is it possible that some of those inputs could be replaced separately?

00:59:23 Mason Bellamy: I do believe possible, but I would have to get confirmed with our traffic technologists.

00:59:36 Jon Farmer: Technologists aren't contractor.

00:59:37 Jon Farmer: My comment through the chair.

00:59:39 Jon Farmer: My concern with doing the whole thing as proposed is that if we've heard from the community that there's a desire there's a desire to have more pedestrian-friendly programming and processes and we know that this there was a larger capital plan in the not too distant future.

01:00:02 Jon Farmer: I wonder if doing a smaller scope now would meet in the middle between those two priorities.

01:00:07 Jon Farmer: If it was possible to hear back from staff, then I don't think I'd support the motion as presented.

01:00:17 SPEAKER_034: For the sake of wanting to make sure we're being as creative and mutually beneficial as possible.

01:00:27 SPEAKER_034: Thanks for those comments.

01:00:29 SPEAKER_034: I'll go to Member Anderson next.

01:00:31 SPEAKER_034: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

01:00:54 SPEAKER_034: I did a little research with Mason staff just to indicate that the APSs do not exist at the present time.

01:01:03 SPEAKER_034: So part of the advantages of having this project go through as a replacement for the damaged areas is that an APS would then be installed, which would meet the city standards for, as John is saying, or Councillor Farmer is saying, a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere.

01:01:05 SPEAKER_034: For me to use that intersection, I don't.

01:01:06 SPEAKER_034: I would, and it is too dangerous without that APS system.

01:01:08 Scott Greig: For people who live in that area who have visual impairments, it would be a big benefit to have it as soon as possible and have it available as soon as possible for their travel safety.

01:01:24 Carol Merton: Thank you, Member Anderson.

01:01:25 Carol Merton: Councillor Merton, next.

01:01:26 Carol Merton: Through you, Chair.

01:01:44 Carol Merton: I agree with Member Anderson about the priority of getting that system up and running, and I appreciate the staff looking at how to find the funding and suggestions to be able to enable this to go forward.

01:01:53 Carol Merton: Not not to go too far down into the weeds.

01:01:55 Carol Merton: However, we've had two vehicle accidents in this intersection.

01:01:56 Carol Merton: We're talking about replacing something because we've had two accidents pretty much within a year time frame.

01:02:01 Carol Merton: Is there an opportunity to even look at this from a collision prevention perspective, or to bring in experts, who because we don't want to keep replacing things, we know the intersection's busy, and but is there something else that needs to be added as a collision preventative at the same time or as part of this evaluation?

01:02:23 Carol Merton: Because if they've been hit twice in a year, January to early this last year to this year, then we you know it is costly to replace, and it makes it unsafe for people if we don't have.

01:02:44 Mason Bellamy: Good, Mason.

01:02:45 Mason Bellamy: Based on my understanding, the first collision was a large truck turning the corner and turned too tight and caught the pole.

01:02:51 Mason Bellamy: The collision this year, I believe, was a freak snow event.

01:02:56 Mason Bellamy: Someone was trying to break, and as the pinball effect happened, somebody kind of got up onto the into the post.

01:02:57 Mason Bellamy: I think some of those considerations we would look at in a capital project in the future.

01:02:59 Mason Bellamy: Like I said, this was originally twenty twenty nine.

01:03:09 Mason Bellamy: If we do the upgrades now and extend some useful life, we'd look later in the twenty thirty s.

01:03:16 Mason Bellamy: But those we consider considerations do then, which would probably require pole replacement, which would require some land acquisition easements with the properties up there.

01:03:18 Mason Bellamy: A little bit more of a time consuming endeavor, unfortunately.

01:03:21 Scott Greig: Okay, I don't see any further questions from anyone in the chambers.

01:03:44 Scott Greig: So the recommendation has been moved by Councillor Hamley.

01:03:47 Scott Greig: All those in favor, and that's carried unanimously.

01:03:53 Scott Greig: Thank you.

01:03:54 Scott Greig: So this time we will welcome Heidi to the meeting.

01:03:58 Scott Greig: Item two six zero one five is a report regarding the leaf and yard waste site contractor disposal for implementation.

01:04:07 Heidi Jennen: Thank you, through you, Mr. Chair.

01:04:09 Heidi Jennen: So this report proposes introducing a contractor disposal fee of two hundred dollars at the leaf and yard waste site.

01:04:11 Heidi Jennen: Historically, contractors were not permitted to use the site as it was intended for residential use only.

01:04:13 Heidi Jennen: In two thousand and three, staff introduced more security at the site to ensure that only material from Owen Sound and participating municipalities, as well as the correct material, was coming into the site.

01:04:26 Heidi Jennen: So at that time, we it was recognized that there are some residents that rely on contractors for yard work and to bring the material up to the site.

01:04:38 Heidi Jennen: So we felt to ensure that residents would still have access to that, a declaration was introduced to ensure the contractors were only disposing of material on behalf of a resident of Owen Sound or participating municipality.

01:04:53 Heidi Jennen: And at that time, there was there has been no cost to the contractors to register.

01:05:19 Heidi Jennen: So this fee helps to ensure that costs associated associated with monitoring contractor accesses.

01:05:23 Heidi Jennen: Contractor access is not borne by residents or by taxpayers.

01:05:27 Heidi Jennen: Staff do have access to to contractor contact information, and at this point, there has been one contractor that did reach out to me, and I have forewarned them that there may be a cost this year.

01:05:29 Heidi Jennen: But if committee does approve this recommendation, then I will send this report to the contractors that we do have on file, and so they're aware of it.

01:05:55 Heidi Jennen: But there is a process before this could be implemented.

01:05:59 Heidi Jennen: It would have to be approved by council first.

01:06:03 Heidi Jennen: Once it's approved by council, then notice of changes to the fees and charges bylaw would have to come forward.

01:06:13 Heidi Jennen: So this fee wouldn't even be able to be introduced and.

01:06:17 Heidi Jennen: Able to be introduced until the end of April, but we can always review this fee at the end of the year too, because I'm sure that there may be some contractors that don't want to register this year due to a fee.

01:06:40 Heidi Jennen: Thanks.

01:06:40 Heidi Jennen: Thanks, Heidi.

01:06:41 Heidi Jennen: Questions from committee member Jordan.

01:06:45 Heidi Jennen: Go ahead.

01:06:45 Heidi Jennen: Through the chair, Heidi.

01:06:48 Heidi Jennen: As there is no direct supervision at the site that I'm aware of, how is access to the site monitored to ensure that contractors are not coming in under disguise, so to speak?

01:06:59 Heidi Jennen: Through you, Mr. Chair.

01:07:01 Heidi Jennen: Staff.

01:07:02 Heidi Jennen: We do have staff on site a lot of the time.

01:07:07 Heidi Jennen: Somebody from Public Works is there with a loader. or just one of the public works staff is on site, but we also do have our security company.

01:07:09 Heidi Jennen: They periodically do pop in to ensure that if there is a contractor that is on site that they're registered.

01:07:11 Heidi Jennen: They do have the ability to ask contractors to see proof of invoices or work orders to prove that that material is from one of the residents from Owen Sound or the participating municipalities, because we don't want the the extra material here from residents or for businesses and commercial are definitely not allowed.

01:07:58 Heidi Jennen: Thank you.

01:07:59 Heidi Jennen: That being said, if someone comes into the site with a large load in an unmarked truck, how would you know where it came from?

01:08:11 Heidi Jennen: Well, if if there's somebody there from Public Works, they may feel comfortable enough to ask.

01:08:18 Heidi Jennen: And also, well, security is on site periodically, so they do risk seeing meeting up with security who would not allow that.

01:08:29 Heidi Jennen: We also have really good residents who sound who would take pictures or call Public Works.

01:08:56 Jon Farmer: There's always many residents using the site at one time, so we we do have that as well.

01:09:06 Jon Farmer: But if they came in at a time where I guess there's always that risk that that could happen.

01:09:08 Jon Farmer: But with the amount of security that we have on site and staff on site, hopefully that is not a situation.

01:09:10 Jon Farmer: Go to Councillor Farmer online next.

01:09:11 Jon Farmer: Thank you.

01:09:11 Jon Farmer: Through the chair, under the financial resources section of the report, at the bottom of page three, there's a comment that actual revenue may vary depending on contractor participation levels and payment selection.

01:10:04 SPEAKER_037: In in reading through, it was unclear to me, or I just missed what the pay what options are for payment selection.

01:10:14 SPEAKER_037: I understood that it was a flat fee for for the service for the year, and I was just hoping for more information about either my misunderstanding or how that all works.

01:10:16 SPEAKER_037: Through Mr. Chair, okay.

01:10:16 SPEAKER_037: So I I do apologize that that is on me. we were maybe considering different levels, but it would just be too difficult to to monitor.

01:10:18 SPEAKER_037: So we decided that the two hundred dollars is is sufficient for the year.

01:10:20 SPEAKER_037: Thank you.

01:10:20 SPEAKER_037: And member Suter, there we go.

01:10:21 SPEAKER_037: I was just curious what other options were looked at rather through rather than just finding the or not finding but adding a surplus charge to the contractors that are already registered.

01:11:10 Heidi Jennen: Like were any other options considered such as making it easier to, you know, report someone that you would consider a contractor or self-reporting stuff like that, contractor to contractor things like that.

01:11:20 Heidi Jennen: Just it seems like it's a prohibitive towards businesses that are working locally, rather than trying to prevent the external businesses.

01:11:22 Heidi Jennen: Three, Mr. Chair, that's a good point.

01:11:23 Heidi Jennen: We do have a very good community that is continually watching the site, as well as staff on site that do report anything that is that is out of line.

01:11:25 Heidi Jennen: But and I I don't want to discourage the the the local businesses from you know registering.

01:11:31 SPEAKER_037: It's just at one point businesses, any commercial businesses were not allowed at the site, and we wanted to make sure that residents still had that option available to to bring their material to the site without burdening them.

01:11:42 Heidi Jennen: But this. was just an option to to increase security at the site.

01:11:55 Heidi Jennen: Just to follow up on that, I was wondering if there was more clarification on on what level of contractor.

01:12:05 Heidi Jennen: I know there's a lot of youth yard waste companies out there, and two hundred dollars is enough for a youth to not start their summer business.

01:12:16 Heidi Jennen: Through Mr. Chair, that that is a good point.

01:12:21 Heidi Jennen: I I know a lot of the the contractors that do register for this already are smaller businesses because the larger contractors do have sites where they can dispose of their material, like larger tree companies or other companies.

01:12:40 Member Jordan: As we wouldn't accept that material anyways because the.

01:12:42 Member Jordan: That material, anyways, because a lot of it of them are doing it for, they're they're doing it for businesses and commercial as well, not just like small residential.

01:12:51 Scott Greig: I'll go back to member Jordan.

01:12:57 Scott Greig: First of all, I would like to, through the chair, thank Heidi and your people for providing Old Town with this site.

01:13:04 Scott Greig: I know it was a long time coming, but certainly we're one of those lucky communities that we can go and pick up compost for our properties at no cost, unlike those poor people down in the big city that have to pay for it.

01:13:27 Scott Greig: Okay.

01:13:28 Scott Greig: Further questions, comments?

01:13:29 Scott Greig: I'll go back to Councillor Farmer, noting I do not have a recommendation on the floor even at this time, Councillor Farmer.

01:13:41 Heidi Jennen: I was offering.

01:13:42 Heidi Jennen: I was going to offer to move the recommendation in the report.

01:13:47 Heidi Jennen: Okay, thank you for doing that.

01:13:53 Heidi Jennen: Any further questions from committee?

01:13:55 Heidi Jennen: Not seeing any.

01:13:55 Heidi Jennen: Call the vote.

01:13:57 Heidi Jennen: All those in favor.

01:13:58 Heidi Jennen: Those opposed.

01:13:59 Heidi Jennen: I've got one opposed, but that motion carries.

01:14:03 Heidi Jennen: Thank you very much.

01:14:05 Heidi Jennen: Back to Heidi for item eight C one, Supervisor the annual transit report.

01:14:10 Heidi Jennen: Back to you, Heidi.

01:14:11 Heidi Jennen: Right through you, Mr. Chair.

01:14:15 Heidi Jennen: So this report provides an overview of transit for two thousand and twenty-five.

01:14:21 Heidi Jennen: For annual ridership, conventional ridership did drop a little bit in two thousand and twenty-five, just over two percent.

01:14:30 Heidi Jennen: A lot of that came from last February, as you, as members may be aware, we did have some issues, some operational issues with the buses.

01:14:45 Heidi Jennen: Approximately seventy-two point five service hours were lost due to mechanical issues.

01:14:48 Heidi Jennen: Since then, we did meet with the contractor, and they've ensured they've assured us that going forward, there is a contingency plan for buses.

01:15:06 Heidi Jennen: So, March we had twenty-four hours of service loss due to mechanical issues, but since then it's been okay.

01:15:20 Heidi Jennen: Also, last February we did have some significantly terrible weather, so there were a lot of delays.

01:15:30 Heidi Jennen: So, February was a large dip in ridership.

01:15:33 Heidi Jennen: Fare revenue it did increase about twenty-eight thousand dollars from twenty twenty-four.

01:15:40 Heidi Jennen: Fare revenue did decrease.

01:15:42 Heidi Jennen: Well, fare revenue did decrease, but pass revenue did increase significantly.

01:15:46 Heidi Jennen: Even though passes, regular adult passes, affordability passes, and student passes and senior passes, they did decrease about twenty-four passes.

01:15:59 Heidi Jennen: But overall, we did introduce some new passes in twenty twenty-five, including the ten ride passes and the day passes.

01:16:06 Heidi Jennen: So, fifteen hundred and eighty-seven ten ride passes, and two hundred and twenty-five day passes were sold, which represents at least two thousand individual trips, so which highlights the passes that are more for on demand.

01:16:23 Heidi Jennen: Like instead of getting a pass for a full month, it's easier to get a ten pass.

01:16:30 Heidi Jennen: So we also introduced the semester pass, which we sold fifteen of them in two thousand and twenty-five.

01:16:39 Heidi Jennen: That isn't a huge amount, but starting in two thousand and twenty-six, we will look at reaching out to the high schools to try to promote them through the high schools.

01:16:48 Heidi Jennen: I should note that fifteen semester passes equal about seventy-five student passes, so that would explain part of the decrease in the student passes.

01:17:09 Heidi Jennen: We introduced the day passes, which were nine dollars, and we sold approximately two hundred and twenty-five in two thousand and twenty-five, and the ten passes.

01:17:18 Heidi Jennen: Like I said, we sold one thousand five hundred and eighty-seven, which is almost sixteen thousand rides.

01:17:31 Heidi Jennen: The next is mobility transit.

01:17:33 Heidi Jennen: So the first quarter of the year we were down about two hundred and thirty-three riders from two thousand and twenty-four, but the second half of the year, we increased about two hundred and fifty riders.

01:17:35 Heidi Jennen: And next was Ghost, and I know one of the members was asking about fares for Ghost in 2025.

01:17:37 Heidi Jennen: Ghost recorded almost 13,000 riders, which was up 2.6% from 2024, and passenger fare revenue was 154,515 compared to 149,446 in 2024.

01:18:37 Heidi Jennen: Flix Bus continues to provide direct connections between Owen Sound and Toronto Union Station.

01:18:44 Heidi Jennen: We, the city, generates $6,000 in platform terminal platform revenue annually, and Flix Bus has agreed to a one-year extension from April 30th, 2026, till April 30th, 2027.

01:18:58 Heidi Jennen: The transit app is used approximately 900 users a month.

01:19:01 Heidi Jennen: Last year, it peaked in August with just over a thousand users.

01:19:10 Heidi Jennen: So the transit app has live tracking as long as one of the GPS systems are on the bus.

01:19:18 Heidi Jennen: So if spare bus is being used and the GPS system is not on the bus, it will not show where the bus is.

01:19:30 Heidi Jennen: So it's based on the scheduled time.

01:19:32 Heidi Jennen: So the app is free to download and to use, and the free version allows users to track the bus location in real time as long as they put in a destination.

01:19:51 Heidi Jennen: The now there is a premium version, the royal version, and you can see where the buses are without providing a trip.

01:19:59 Heidi Jennen: You can create a trip yourself, driving the bus, like on the bus, so that people can see that you're on the bus, and you can also go to other municipalities and see where the bus is.

01:20:01 Heidi Jennen: So, the royal version is five dollars a month or twenty-five dollars for the year, and free access.

01:20:05 Heidi Jennen: But there is free access available to those that are making thirty thousand dollars or less.

01:20:37 Scott Greig: And the last thing is for two thousand and twenty-six, our priorities are looking at family fare options, free transfer under twelve, promotion of student passes through local schools, expansion of pass sales outlets, and looking at electronic fares, which would be some type of grants.

01:20:57 Jon Farmer: Thanks.

01:20:57 Jon Farmer: Okay, thank you very much for providing the report, Heidi.

01:21:02 Jon Farmer: Are there any questions?

01:21:03 Jon Farmer: Looking around the room, I'll go online to Councillor Farmer.

01:21:07 Jon Farmer: Thank you.

01:21:07 Jon Farmer: Through the chair, first, I'm really glad to hear the promotion of the semester pass for students, and also the consideration of family fare options.

01:21:18 Jon Farmer: The best is certainly, yeah, an exciting way to get around with a tiny human.

01:21:25 Jon Farmer: I was recently approached by a member of the public who wondered why the buses don't run more often after they'd had a hard time getting home from a hospital visit after bus hours, and also wondered why we don't just make the buses free to get as many people on the bus as possible.

01:21:28 Jon Farmer: So, what should the public know about the way that we're measuring success for the transit system as we weigh the priorities of promoting use and recovering costs?

01:22:00 Scott Greig: Well, who wants to take a stab at that one?

01:22:04 Scott Greig: Well, what I see on my screen right now is the municipal contribution is one point one three six million dollars per year.

01:22:12 Scott Greig: So I guess that's the starting point.

01:22:15 Scott Greig: Service expansion comes with a cost, and I routinely do mention that to individuals in the public, and it's always a challenge trying to find, I guess, that happy balance between how long you can run the buses in the evening, or expand on Sunday service, and what the taxpayer can ultimately afford.

01:22:35 Tim Simmonds: So, I don't know if staff would like to.

01:22:38 Tim Simmonds: I'll go to the city manager for comment further.

01:22:42 Tim Simmonds: Thank you, Chairman, and through you, you're exactly right.

01:22:45 Tim Simmonds: Like staff, we've looked at transit options.

01:22:47 Tim Simmonds: We hear a lot about people would love an evening service to continue till ten thirty or eleven o'clock at night, as would we.

01:22:54 Tim Simmonds: But again, there's that fine balance of total quantity of users to keeping the routes open, and the way the system is set up.

01:23:00 Tim Simmonds: Also, it's not as simple as it seems.

01:23:02 Tim Simmonds: Very logical that you could just simply keep a bus running, but you need a bus that connects somewhere, and that's back to the main terminal.

01:23:10 Tim Simmonds: So then the main terminal has to have connection points.

01:23:12 Tim Simmonds: So it's not, it's not as easy as saying.

01:23:16 Tim Simmonds: And again, we've looked at it, and so I can say this, with confidence, what would a crosstown route be?

01:23:23 Tim Simmonds: That would hit all the major commercial areas, but there's nowhere to really drop people off or get them to other places.

01:23:30 Tim Simmonds: So it becomes a logistical issue from a scheduling and a transit perspective.

01:23:35 Tim Simmonds: We're constantly looking at options.

01:23:36 Tim Simmonds: I know that in a year or two we'll be looking at transit again, and different options for how it might look and what routes might look like, and that will certainly be part of the discussion.

01:23:51 Carol Merton: But Deputy Mayor Greig was absolutely right.

01:23:53 Carol Merton: I think to add a service in the evening, it's just cost prohibitive right now based off of the fare rates, etc., and the amount of projected passengers that would be on the bus.

01:24:08 Carol Merton: Go to Councillor Merton and then Member Hawkins next.

01:24:14 Carol Merton: Through you, Chair, I will move the recommendation to receive the information.

01:24:19 Carol Merton: However, I do have a comment and a question.

01:24:22 Carol Merton: I really appreciate your use of data to help inform where we are and where you're hoping to go in the future.

01:24:33 Carol Merton: Transit has been a great example of listening to the community and making the changes.

01:24:39 Carol Merton: And I think we, you know, as we sit around the table, we hear about community involvement, participation, and engagement.

01:24:48 Carol Merton: And the affordability pass originated from a concern that came forward from an organization in our community.

01:24:52 Carol Merton: And the additional changes that have occurred have been because of feedback.

01:24:56 Carol Merton: And I think that's something to be celebrated.

01:24:59 Carol Merton: That we listen, we respond, we make changes.

01:25:04 Carol Merton: So, some of what you're hoping to do in 2026 to look at other changes has come as a result of that input, and I think it's great news.

01:25:20 Carol Merton: The system is not stagnant, nor is it static, and it's continually evolving.

01:25:24 Carol Merton: So, thank you.

01:25:25 Carol Merton: My question has to do with on page ten that you're proposing to work with the contractor to extend the agreement by an additional five years, and that it would.

01:25:38 Mason Bellamy: I put my little note right over those words, so I can't read all of the phrasing.

01:25:45 Mason Bellamy: Do we need a motion for staff to do that, or is that something that you take the initiative forward?

01:25:52 SPEAKER_038: The five-year extension is built into the current contract with the contractor.

01:25:59 SPEAKER_038: That contractor has the option to approach the city about extending their contract.

01:26:05 SPEAKER_039: So, I think, based on early conversations, we're hopeful, and we would like to have continued service.

01:26:13 SPEAKER_039: And so, we'll keep working through that process, and we'll bring it back.

01:26:20 SPEAKER_039: Thank you, Member Hock.

01:26:21 SPEAKER_039: Is next.

01:26:21 SPEAKER_039: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

01:26:24 SPEAKER_039: Has there ever been a study put together in terms of a direct correlation between our number of unemployed individuals that do not drive, can't get employment because of the after-hours transportation that is not in effect for them to get back home safely?

01:26:48 SPEAKER_039: That's question number one.

01:26:50 SPEAKER_039: I think it's something that we have experienced.

01:26:54 SPEAKER_039: A lot of individuals that don't drive.

01:26:56 SPEAKER_039: You know, in Owen Sound, it's prohibitive for them to get their driver's license and to pay for car insurance and own cars.

01:26:58 SPEAKER_039: So they're reliant on our transportation system, but they can't get the jobs that are currently available for employment because they're after hours and there's no transit available for them.

01:27:00 SPEAKER_039: And I think there's a direct reflection on the affordability pass in terms of the services that are paying for a lot of those passes for these individuals.

01:27:45 Mason Bellamy: So I'm just wondering if there's any opportunity to look at the feasibility of extending hours so that people can get gainful employment.

01:27:51 Mason Bellamy: I'll go to Mason for a response there.

01:27:53 Mason Bellamy: Through you, Chair.

01:27:54 Mason Bellamy: Again, I'm new, so if there is other information on the table, I'll be happy to be corrected.

01:28:01 Mason Bellamy: But to my knowledge, we have not completed a study like that.

01:28:03 Mason Bellamy: And I think it goes back to what the City Manager said.

01:28:10 Heidi Jennen: We are always looking to make improvements.

01:28:12 Heidi Jennen: Those improvements do come with a cost, unfortunately.

01:28:15 Heidi Jennen: But these are all things as we move through transit in the future, we can kind of take into consideration as we look at things.

01:28:25 Heidi Jennen: And I'll go to Heidi for follow up.

01:28:30 Heidi Jennen: Through you, Mr. Chair.

01:28:33 Heidi Jennen: We did have a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce a couple of years ago about just employment.

01:28:42 Heidi Jennen: Now, it included George and Bluffs at that time.

01:28:45 Heidi Jennen: So the County was there.

01:28:52 Carol Merton: The County is working on a regional transit plan right now, and hopefully something could include an after-hours service within this area.

01:29:03 Carol Merton: Could be some type of on-demand.

01:29:07 Carol Merton: We're not sure at this point, and we're but we are hopeful that there could be something though.

01:29:12 Scott Greig: Councilor Merton, through you, Chair.

01:29:17 Scott Greig: Another connection might be to link into the Poverty Task Force because they may have statistics and information that might inform us as well, and there's certainly a lot of partners involved in that.

01:29:30 Scott Greig: If I might suggest that you look forward and.

01:29:33 Scott Greig: Just as you look forward into this more detail, and I'll just note for Committee's interest, I quickly pulled up the last transportation study that was done, and I can send that as a link to members, just so you've got that material to read, because there is some consideration into those service expansion hours that were part of that at the time, and that's just a few years back.

01:29:58 Scott Greig: So, so we do have a motion that has been moved, which is to receive the information for information purposes.

01:30:09 Scott Greig: Good news with the increase in revenues, so positive.

01:30:12 Scott Greig: My only question to staff is: Thank you for responding to the reductions in service.

01:30:18 Scott Greig: Does the 72.5 hours of lost service time that include also accidents?

01:30:22 Scott Greig: Because I can recall one day a bus was rear-ended on First Avenue West.

01:30:27 Scott Greig: Clearly, that is downtime at that time.

01:30:30 Scott Greig: There's nothing you can do about it.

01:30:35 Heidi Jennen: But if the buses are broken down for mechanical reasons and they're not able to be backfilled, it must be very frustrating for users of the system to then realize they don't have service provision that day.

01:30:50 Heidi Jennen: So thanks for responding to that.

01:30:52 Heidi Jennen: But also, what?

01:30:54 Heidi Jennen: How do you carry that forward?

01:30:56 Heidi Jennen: Through, Mr. Chair.

01:30:57 Heidi Jennen: So we do have five buses.

01:31:01 Heidi Jennen: We do have the one spare bus.

01:31:04 Heidi Jennen: But in an incident like an accident, they usually do bring in the spare bus.

01:31:14 Scott Greig: Now, if there is a chance that that bus is not available, they may be out of service for an hour.

01:31:22 Scott Greig: They might rotate routes, but hopefully that's not what the future looks like after last February and March, because that's how the situation was.

01:31:30 Scott Greig: Okay, thanks for that response.

01:31:33 SPEAKER_040: So I will call the vote.

01:31:42 Member Jordan: All those in favor, and that is carried unanimously.

01:31:46 Member Jordan: Thank you very much.

01:31:48 Member Jordan: Thanks, Heidi.

01:31:48 Member Jordan: We are down to items under 8D, which is water and wastewater, and welcome Bryce to the evening to the meeting this evening regarding the 2025 annual drinking or sorry, wastewater annual report.

01:32:02 Member Jordan: Through you, Chair.

01:32:04 Member Jordan: Yeah, thank you.

01:32:05 Member Jordan: This month is similar to last month.

01:32:07 Member Jordan: Our annual report, where we report on the performance of our wastewater treatment plant and collection system.

01:32:16 Member Jordan: So, similar format to the water report.

01:32:19 Member Jordan: But the recommendation is that, in consideration to staff report, OP 26-008, respecting the 2025 wastewater annual report, the Operations Committee recommends the City Council receives the report for information purposes.

01:32:31 Member Jordan: So, just some of the highlights from this report.

01:32:35 Member Jordan: This report presents performance data from our wastewater collection system and our wastewater treatment plant to meet our legislative requirement to communicate to our owners, being Council.

01:32:51 Member Jordan: The report also includes our internal audit results from our wastewater quality management system.

01:32:57 Member Jordan: No external audit results are required for the wastewater report because the CSA standard is voluntary.

01:33:04 Member Jordan: Previous authority for this report or annual reports for water and wastewater systems are required under provincial legislation.

01:33:11 Member Jordan: Just some background: annually, the City of Owen Sound is required to compile an annual report in compliance with our environmental compliance approvals issued to our wastewater treatment plant and collection system.

01:33:25 Member Jordan: The reports will be made available to the public via the City's website by April 1st annually.

01:33:33 Member Jordan: It remains a public document that can be viewed as part of Committee minutes upon request.

01:33:42 Member Jordan: The report describes the treatment system processes, compliance status, and results.

01:33:47 Member Jordan: The report also includes internal audit results, best management practices identified through the CSA W217.25 standard, which is similar to the alignment of the drinking water legislation.

01:33:49 Member Jordan: Some of the key points for analysis here were in our wastewater treatment plant, March 2025.

01:33:55 Member Jordan: We saw our peak daily flows hit 59,026 m3, which is roughly 90% of plant capacity.

01:34:04 Member Jordan: Our raw water suspended solids reached a five-year high of 24.80.

01:34:32 Member Jordan: And I'm sorry, I don't have a measurement means for that.

01:34:36 Member Jordan: Plant peak instantaneous flow was 81,406 m3, and our collection system overflow volumes were 83,795.95 m3 compared to only 10,339.06 in 2024.

01:34:45 Member Jordan: There were two significant overflow events that contributed to the majority of those events in March 15th, which was 43,571 m3, and an April 19th, which was 28,800 m3.

01:34:57 Member Jordan: Results from our internal audit revealed 16 opportunities for improvement, and five related to CIL ECA or the new standard, the new CSA W217 standard.

01:35:12 Member Jordan: Sorry.

01:35:19 Member Jordan: Financial resources similar to the water report, the compiling of this data and the formulation of the reports are internal, are taken care of during regular staff duties, and there's no additional cost to compiling the report.

01:35:38 Member Jordan: The one significant investment that was noted would be future infiltration and inflow studies, which we feel are very warranted when the evidence is supported by the overflow volumes from 2025.

01:35:56 Member Jordan: And then, similar to the water, similar to the water human resources piece, it is identified that we could use additional human resources when it comes to assisting and managing our quality management systems and our compliance to get in line with the. new CSA standard, although it is voluntary at this time, this is a similar approach that we see water legislation take, where it is foreshadowing something that will become a legal requirement down the road.

01:36:34 Member Jordan: And then, just into technology and infrastructure, once again, we're identifying that there might be some opportunities for future I and I monitoring, whether it be a third party consultant providing those studies or something that we invest in internally to actively monitor some of our I and I or inflow and infiltration concerns that we have predominantly, predominantly.

01:37:02 Member Jordan: I mean, on the west side, which was our indication last year, this year we've seen higher plant flows, which will be you know can be discussed, but will be evident in future reports.

01:37:17 Member Jordan: Yeah, and I will now leave it leave it for questions.

01:37:23 Scott Greig: Okay, thanks, Bryce.

01:37:24 Scott Greig: I guess you'll have less questions on presenting a report this month, as opposed if the reports had been flipped, and we had drinking water this evening.

01:37:34 Scott Greig: Are there questions for Bryce regarding the reports?

01:37:37 Scott Greig: I'll go to Member Jordan first.

01:37:42 Member Jordan: My question was not about the wastewater treatment; it was about the municipal water split treatment.

01:37:50 Member Jordan: I think I posted that question earlier.

01:37:54 Scott Greig: I'll just if it's on the municipal water treatment part, just I'll ask if you can hold that until the item of additional business.

01:38:02 Scott Greig: Councilor Merton's going to raise it, so I'll just circle back, Councilor Farmer.

01:38:06 Scott Greig: Councillor Farmer.

01:38:10 Jon Farmer: Thank you.

01:38:10 Jon Farmer: Through the chair, I think someone might hear that we reached ninety percent of plant capacity at one point in twenty twenty-five, and think, "Oh no, what are we going to do when we've got so many apartment buildings and additional developments on the books for the city, which we're celebrating for growth?"

01:38:27 Jon Farmer: I'm wondering if staff could just provide some more context to what it means to have reached that percentage of plant capacity in that month, and where there's room for growth, either growth of capacity or management of capacity if inflow and infiltration is also a concern.

01:38:45 Jon Farmer: I'll go to Bruce.

01:38:53 Member Jordan: Through the chair, yes, thanks.

01:38:57 Member Jordan: So that is the instantaneous flow rate of the.

01:39:00 Member Jordan: Instantaneous flow rate that the plant was receiving at that time was the eighty nine thousand.

01:39:04 Member Jordan: So a lot of that, like back to the I and I that we discussed, a lot of that is due to heavy infiltration and inflows from either cross connections of storm or yeah aging infrastructure that that is allowing that those flows to to reach the plant.

01:39:26 Member Jordan: Like I was saying, last year we seen higher for some reason west side flows that contributed to those bypass events at our west side pump station and and some of the west side infrastructure.

01:39:40 Member Jordan: This year, in similar reports, you will see that we've had bypass events that are related to that.

01:39:46 Member Jordan: So this high instantaneous flow was related to I and I flows hitting the plant, and although we didn't have. plant bypass events last year, it shows how close we came.

01:40:01 Member Jordan: Good question.

01:40:02 Member Jordan: Thank you, Member Shooter.

01:40:06 SPEAKER_037: Through the chair, I just wanted to add.

01:40:08 SPEAKER_037: Like, there was really good information.

01:40:10 SPEAKER_037: Reading through it, I was just curious.

01:40:12 SPEAKER_037: There was a few two thousand and twenty-five exceedances in some of the different topic areas.

01:40:16 SPEAKER_037: There, my question is more like, what that looks like compared to previous years?

01:40:22 SPEAKER_037: Because it only showed the two thousand and twenty-five years.

01:40:25 SPEAKER_037: So, is that something that's historically the same?

01:40:27 SPEAKER_037: Those exceedances every month, and are there preventative measures in place if we know those are coming up to prevent those exceedances?

01:40:36 Member Jordan: So I don't have the data.

01:40:40 Member Jordan: Oh, sorry, through you, chair.

01:40:42 Member Jordan: I don't have that data in front of me right now.

01:40:44 Member Jordan: But that data would be available from the previous year's reports and. we can definitely provide that.

01:40:50 Member Jordan: We we hadn't seen any trends that were alarming.

01:40:53 Member Jordan: That would be picked up through our QAQC of our our wastewater superintendent and our our QMS rep, and lead hand that to review that, and they would flag those those trends, and we would identify those generally through an infrastructure review or risk assessment.

01:41:13 Member Jordan: We were notifying those those trends.

01:41:15 Member Jordan: So, like we've seen, the the total suspended solids hit that record high.

01:41:20 Member Jordan: That was kind of an outlier, right?

01:41:22 Member Jordan: We weren't expecting that.

01:41:23 Scott Greig: And if a trend continues, then yes, we would definitely look into that.

01:41:32 Scott Greig: Good comments.

01:41:32 Scott Greig: I'm not seeing any further comments, but I'll go back to Bryce just before I entertain a motion, which is to receive the report for information purposes.

01:41:42 Scott Greig: Sorry, thanks, and through you.

01:41:43 Scott Greig: Chair.

01:41:43 Member Jordan: I think I may have just missed one key point from Council Farmer's question with regards to future growth and capacity.

01:41:50 Member Jordan: So, no, we we we don't.

01:41:53 Member Jordan: Our generally our general plant flows are about at forty percent of our capacity.

01:41:57 Member Jordan: When we're seeing those instantaneous flow rates, they're concerning to us from an eye eye perspective.

01:42:04 Member Jordan: But with our growth predictions and our plant capacity, that is not a not a concern.

01:42:12 Member Jordan: Did that help?

01:42:12 Member Jordan: Sorry.

01:42:17 Scott Greig: Okay.

01:42:18 Scott Greig: All right.

01:42:18 Scott Greig: Thank you very much for that expansion on the question there and the response, Brace.

01:42:22 Scott Greig: So, just looking for a motion to receive the report for information purposes.

01:42:26 Scott Greig: Member Hawkins has so moved.

01:42:28 Scott Greig: Any further questions, comments?

01:42:31 Scott Greig: All those in favor?

01:42:33 Scott Greig: And that's carried.

01:42:34 Scott Greig: Thank you very much.

01:42:35 Scott Greig: Thanks, Bryce.

01:42:36 Scott Greig: And I guess don't go far.

01:42:40 Scott Greig: We'll soon be down to additional business.

01:42:42 Scott Greig: We're through our reports.

01:42:44 Scott Greig: We've got no matters postponed this evening.

01:42:46 Scott Greig: No motions for which notice was previously given under item ten.

01:42:50 Scott Greig: Item eleven is a memorandum regarding winter maintenance update.

01:42:56 Scott Greig: Anything you just like to touch upon there, Mason?

01:42:58 Mason Bellamy: Go ahead.

01:43:00 Mason Bellamy: We'll just touch on it quick.

01:43:03 Mason Bellamy: I know I brought this at the last meeting last month.

01:43:06 Mason Bellamy: All in all, we've been continuing on the best we can.

01:43:11 Mason Bellamy: I think if you look at the bottom of the slide there, when I did this for the agenda Thursday, we were at 417 centimeters of snow.

01:43:18 Mason Bellamy: As of today, I checked this morning, we are at 444.

01:43:23 Mason Bellamy: So that's a 35 percent increase on what a total year normally is for the city of Owen Sound, so we're we're busy.

01:43:31 Mason Bellamy: And we look at the lost production days again, just moving up on last month.

01:43:36 Mason Bellamy: They've gone up a little bit, and again, these remind everybody these are only full twenty-four hour cycles that these units are out of service.

01:43:44 Mason Bellamy: This week's been rough for us.

01:43:46 Mason Bellamy: Tuesday we had a sidewalk plow, a truck, a grader all go down in about a three-hour window, and our mechanics worked tirelessly to get those back and running in less than that twenty-four hours.

01:43:58 Mason Bellamy: So I think just want to outline here, like it's been a busy year for us.

01:44:05 Mason Bellamy: And if there's any further questions on that, I'd be happy to answer them.

01:44:08 Mason Bellamy: But it's all in all continuation of last month.

01:44:12 Scott Greig: And any questions from committee?

01:44:15 Scott Greig: Not seeing any.

01:44:16 Scott Greig: Looking for a mover.

01:44:18 Scott Greig: Just the piece of correspondence.

01:44:18 Scott Greig: Just the piece of correspondence.

01:44:18 Scott Greig: Just the piece of correspondence.

01:44:18 Scott Greig: Just the piece of correspondence.

01:44:20 Scott Greig: Member James has so moved. to receive.

01:44:22 Scott Greig: All those in favor, that's carried.

01:44:35 Carol Merton: Thank you very much.

01:44:37 Carol Merton: And to next item twelve, additional business.

01:44:40 Carol Merton: I'll go to Councilor Merton.

01:44:42 Carol Merton: Through you, Chair.

01:44:42 Carol Merton: This may not be the same question, Member Jordan, that you're bringing forward.

01:44:44 Carol Merton: But first of all, and I'm just reading from some notes I've typed.

01:44:48 Carol Merton: I want to say thank you to our city staff and also to Great Bruce Public Health for their vigilance in continually monitoring our water quality and advising us of important precautionary measures.

01:45:01 Carol Merton: We all have the same goal: keeping our residents and citizens safe.

01:45:07 Carol Merton: It was a rough weekend, and a lot of hours of city staff, public health, were involved in addressing a precautionary water boil advisory.

01:45:23 Carol Merton: There is a system in place, and the system was activated.

01:45:29 Carol Merton: I also want to thank our community because there were many heroes in our community who went out and made sure that people were aware, and you know did what they could to help people.

01:45:51 Carol Merton: You know, this is what we do well.

01:45:54 Carol Merton: We work together as a community.

01:45:59 Carol Merton: Every system is set up to be successful, and every system has opportunities for improvement.

01:46:01 Carol Merton: So, I first wanted to say thank you, and I secondly would like to ask whether there is a debrief plan, and if there are opportunities for improvement, either through the system, the communication rollout strategy, or any other feedback that you've received, that could be brought back to this community and also our committee, and also to the community at large.

01:46:27 Carol Merton: We talk about continuous process improvements, and this is an opportunity for us to look at this whole process.

01:46:46 Member Jordan: Is something like that being planned?

01:46:50 Member Jordan: Through your chair, yes.

01:46:50 Member Jordan: First of all, thank you for the very generous and gracious comments.

01:46:52 Member Jordan: We do appreciate that, and it was a challenging weekend for staff, and I'm very proud of the group how they pulled together and worked through it too.

01:46:58 Member Jordan: So we have, yeah, like you said, our communication process has worked, and I think the city manager commented that you know within just a couple hours we had nearly touched over one hundred different people in different sectors in their communication, and then they touched people beyond that.

01:47:20 Member Jordan: So it is a wide net that is cast, and it connects to a lot of people.

01:47:25 Member Jordan: So I think the system definitely did work, and it was amazing how everybody pulled together to do that.

01:47:33 Member Jordan: So thank you, and thanks to staff that supported.

01:47:36 Member Jordan: But to your question, yes.

01:47:38 Member Jordan: So we have a couple things.

01:47:40 Member Jordan: So under our DWQM Master Drinking Water Quality Management Standard, Section Twenty One of that is continuous improvement.

01:47:47 Member Jordan: So we are required to have a formal process to address continuous improvement or address like an emergency event in how we formally do a debrief.

01:48:00 Member Jordan: So internally within the water department, we will be doing a root cause analysis to identify what the root cause issue was.

01:48:08 Member Jordan: And since it's not, sorry, since we're not expecting it to be one of our critical control points that we have a physical means of controlling, such as it being like weather or mother nature related to source water, then we will be developing an emergency response plan to formally address how we will deal with that next time.

01:48:29 Member Jordan: And a lot of those pieces will have those communication aspects in it, and will have further monitoring and actionable thresholds.

01:48:39 Member Jordan: So hopefully we can prevent ourselves from getting to this point again.

01:48:45 Member Jordan: And then we do have a corporate.

01:48:48 Member Jordan: More of an EOC or emergency operations center debrief, which although we didn't fully activate and we were just in the monitoring stage of that, we're going to do a formal debrief on that so we can improve our internal process flows and communications, which worked very well, you know, internally through that process as well.

01:49:10 Scott Greig: Thanks, Brace.

01:49:11 Scott Greig: Go to Member Jordan.

01:49:14 Member Jordan: Well, let me say I took a lot of flack in social media coming to the defense of the staff at the water treatment plant.

01:49:21 Member Jordan: You're welcome.

01:49:22 Member Jordan: Do you have the question that I posed?

01:49:32 Member Jordan: You have it.

01:49:36 Member Jordan: Thank you.

01:49:36 Member Jordan: I go to Brace.

01:49:37 Member Jordan: Through you, Chair.

01:49:38 Member Jordan: And yes, thank you, Member Jordan.

01:49:39 Member Jordan: That greatly appreciated, and I just wanted to highlight that coincidentally that today is the anniversary of our longest-serving of our water treatment superintendent who has been with us for 30 years.

01:49:55 Member Jordan: So I would say if anybody had the experience and the knowledge and the wherewithal to guide us through something like this and has operated us through it, it was that individual.

01:50:08 Member Jordan: So I'd like to just acknowledge, yeah, the water treatment staff and the water treatment superintendent who helped us with this so and get us through this.

01:50:18 Member Jordan: And you know, to his point and to what he has seen over 30 years, this experience or this situation was unique to him as well.

01:50:28 Member Jordan: So I just want to acknowledge that this was an outlier.

01:50:34 Member Jordan: But to your question there.

01:50:37 Member Jordan: Member of Jordan, your question was: In consideration of the recent turbidity incident affecting the drinking water supply, what, if any, is the response to the event connected to the work underway at the water treatment plant.

01:50:54 Member Jordan: So, just to confirm, so we have four plants and four filters under normal operation, and one filter is currently taken offline for our phased filter improvement project.

01:51:08 Member Jordan: So, on March fourth was the time when the one filter was scheduled to come offline, and the other filter had already been put back online.

01:51:20 Member Jordan: So, as of March fourth, when we reviewed the current forecast, there was nothing that was alarming that would warrant or we could justify delaying the project.

01:51:31 Member Jordan: And this was, you know, contractual language that required us to systematically take filters on and offline and progress through the project.

01:51:41 Member Jordan: So at that time, we took the filter offline.

01:51:45 Member Jordan: When we took that filter offline on March fourth, there were some unknown circumstances when we drew the water down that weren't previously identified.

01:51:57 Member Jordan: When scoping the project, there was a waterproofing coating that was applied to the one side of the wall that then had to be tested and removed.

01:52:06 Member Jordan: That only resulted in a minimal delay, so that wasn't a significant reason why.

01:52:16 Member Jordan: But it was just it did impact that filter being offline a little bit longer.

01:52:18 Member Jordan: There's also scheduled provisional concrete repairs to be done on the filter, and those can't fully be analyzed until that filter is drained and taken offline.

01:52:28 Member Jordan: Those, fortunately, those concrete repairs were minimal, and they were completed.

01:52:33 Member Jordan: So that was just providing some of the context around the work that needs to be done when the filter is offline.

01:52:39 Member Jordan: But moving forward, on sorry, as of last week, even we understood that this was critical, and we knew that this was going to be a critical time of the year.

01:52:50 Member Jordan: So on March 11th, in 2026, the city met with our contractor being NAC, sorry North American Construction, RV Anderson being our consultant, and Xylem who is the filter supplier, to discuss the performance of the previous filter, review some of the turbidity and head loss data from how that filter three that was commissioned was performing.

01:53:16 Member Jordan: We reviewed some of the trends and some of the what we noted as potential less than acceptable or not ideal filter performance issues to prevent this happening on future filters.

01:53:31 Member Jordan: So we are actively trying to ensure that the next filters go smoother than the first one.

01:53:37 Member Jordan: Although now that filter is performing to expectation.

01:53:45 Member Jordan: So that was on March 11th, early in the week, and then on March 13th, the Friday, the city did meet directly with RVA being our consultant, where we wanted to discuss thoroughly the expectation of the contractor to perform what we deemed is to be an acceptable filter run test.

01:54:06 Member Jordan: So contractually, we're obligated for a seven-day filter run test.

01:54:10 Member Jordan: The parameters set out in that run test are that operational.

01:54:16 Member Jordan: We have to be operationally satisfied with the performance of the filter.

01:54:19 Member Jordan: That doesn't.

01:54:20 Member Jordan: It doesn't set out specific standards as in we get X amount of hours of run time or we're expecting certain turbidities because each filter and filter media and based on the source water takes a little bit longer time to, I'll say break in for lack of better technical terms and to fully become effective with those particles, the granular activated carbon particles grabbing that biological matter that it holds on to and actually helps the filter become more effective as it ages or as it fully develops.

01:54:59 Member Jordan: So we met with NAC because we so we met with RVA because.

01:55:03 Member Jordan: So we met with RVA because we wanted to ensure that we were getting the message across to NAC that filter performance was critical to us, and we wanted to ensure that operational performance, operational standards, meant that we were fully satisfied, not that the contractor was satisfied, or not that Xylem was satisfied with the performance of the filter that we were before it came online.

01:55:11 Member Jordan: And then on March 18th, so just yesterday, we had a debrief with RVA, mostly with regards to the incident over the weekend and how we urged them or reminded them of the urgency of trying to compress this schedule or find efficiencies in getting this filter back online and trying to find any way we could potentially stage the future filters and do potentially other work that wouldn't mean taking a filter offline, if that forecast indicated that there was potential for high turbidity events.

01:56:11 Member Jordan: Once again, this was a unique situation, and unique as in we don't ever recall there being an incident of that heavy of flows and there still being ice cover on the bay, which we in theory we think prevented some of that movement of water, some of the currents, some of the winds, some of the wave action to help push that turbid water out and it hung over top of the intake filter or the intake, sorry, and then once again kudos to City Manager and the Fire Department, Phil, who was able to quickly arrange that that icebreaker to come in and free up the ice over that intake, so we've seen almost instantaneous improvements of the source water quality because of that.

01:56:57 Member Jordan: So hopefully that answered your question.

01:57:19 Member Jordan: So was the background turbidity the source water abnormally high or just exacerbated by the ice cover?

01:57:29 Member Jordan: So I wouldn't say that it was abnormally high.

01:57:30 Member Jordan: We've seen turbidity levels of that level before, but generally we have an indication on how long we would have to deal with that poor source water.

01:57:32 Member Jordan: Right.

01:57:33 Member Jordan: So we would, you know, cold nights, south winds would tend to blow that turbidity out if it was source was like part of Waterman and Cinnaham if it's Siddenham.

01:58:00 Member Jordan: If it's Kenny Drain source, then we're relying on the north winds, sorry the south winds, to keep it away from our intake.

01:58:09 Member Jordan: So the turbidity wasn't abnormally high.

01:58:10 Member Jordan: It was just normally we can visually see where that plume is, and we have an indication on how long that plume is going to last.

01:58:12 Scott Greig: So it did seem to hang over the turbidity or the hang over the intake longer than we'd previously seen.

01:58:14 Scott Greig: Okay, good question.

01:58:14 Scott Greig: Great response.

01:58:25 Scott Greig: And as Councillor Merton stated, thank you very much on behalf of the community, the community for staff for all your work and efforts keeping the community informed and getting things back online as quick as you could last weekend.

01:58:34 Scott Greig: So we are to item three.

01:58:35 Scott Greig: We are to item thirteen.

01:58:37 Scott Greig: Notices of motion.

01:58:39 Scott Greig: Are there any notices of motion?

01:58:41 Scott Greig: Not seeing any.

01:58:43 Scott Greig: And just before item fourteen, I guess I better just congratulate Mr. Pelletier on thirty years.

01:58:51 Scott Greig: That's that's wonderful to hear.

01:58:53 Scott Greig: So thank you very much for sharing that with the committee this evening, Bryce.

01:58:56 Scott Greig: At seven twenty nine, we are adjourned.

01:59:01 Scott Greig: Thank you, everyone.